On Saturday, the Carmel Girls Soccer team took on the Hamilton Southeastern Royals in the 2025 IHSAA Girls Soccer 3A State Championship matchup. The game was held at Carrol Stadium at IU Indianapolis and started off very close. After the first half of action, the game was tied 0-0 but the Hounds had the momentum as they had attempted many more shots on goal. At the start of the second half, it continued to be just as intense, with both defenses holding strong and not allowing anything in the back of the net. Even into the last 20 minutes of the game, neither team had scored as both defenses had played near perfect games, and many spectators anticipated the game to go into a penalty shootout. However, with under 7 minutes left in the game, disaster struck.
Hamilton Southeastern was advancing rapidly towards the greyhound goal. But after a bad touch, the greyhounds were trying to control it inside the 18 yard box. Unfortunately, there was a misscommunication between Goalie Gwyneth Provost and Defender Ryan Weber, and as Provost tried to clear the ball away, it deflected off of Weber and bounced towards the greyhound goal. From there, HSE’s Riley Boyd had a wide open shot on the goal, an she converted to put the Royals up 1-0. From then, there wasn’t enough time for the greyhounds to get something going and they were unable to math HSE’s score when the clock struck zero.
Despite the State Championship loss, it was still a fantastic season for the Greyhounds. Under first year head coach John Simmonds, the greyhounds improved from a regional finals loss against East Central last year by making it all the way to the state championship. Additionally, the greyhounds have several returning players who had strong seasons this year. Goalie Gwyneth Provost, Forward Elsie Flanders, and Midfielder Olivia Ade will all be back next year for the hounds. Provost had 37 saves and only allowed 6 goals through 22 games. Flanders had 6 goals and 9 assists on the season, and Ade had 3 goals and 6 assists on the season.
However, there are a few players the greyhounds are going to miss next year, including Senior Forward Adalyn Cameron. Cameron finished the season with an unfathomable 40 goals and 9 assists in 22 games played. While this was Cameron’s only year as a varsity starter, it was undoubtedly one of the greatest individual seasons for a player in Carmel Girls Soccer history. Emma Ehret will also be missed, as she added 10 goals and 7 assists this season. The greyhounds will also be losing seniors Kate Klinginsmith and Olivia Joyce, who had 7 assists and 4 goals respectully. While the Hounds didn’t win the state championship this year, there is a lot of hope heading into next season as the aim to capture their first state title since 2018.
