South fans will have to split up for regional
Jeremy Price 812-331-4342 | jprice@heraldt.com
Bloomington South soccer fans will have their loyalties divided when Class 3A regional play begins today.
The Panther girls stay home to host the regional, while the boys are off to Seymour, but both kick off at noon today in the regional semifinals and would both play for the championship at 7 p.m.
On the girls' side, No. 20 South (16-2-1) will take on No. 6 Castle following the 10 a.m. opener between Floyd Central and No. 13 Columbus North. It's a rematch from the second Saturday of the regular season when the visiting Knights knocked off the Panthers, 3-0, in the second game of a doubleheader.
"When we played them earlier in the season, they got to a lot of balls first," South senior defender Emma Mullen said. "If we get to the ball first and connect passes and work as a team, we can beat them. We just have to work as a team."
Coach Ian Rickerby agrees and hopes to see his team finally get past the glass ceiling of the regionals.
"I think we've got some things this year we haven't had in the past," he said. "Not that the other teams (in the regional) aren't good, but I think we drew the best of the bunch (in Castle).
"We have to be on our game, and we have to play well if things are going to work out."
For the fifth-ranked South boys (18-1-1), it will also be a matchup of familiarity, starting against No. 19 Columbus East. The two teams tied 2-2 in the final week of the regular season.
"We know we have to take care of Columbus East first," Panther senior Ben Yeagley said. "They gave us a heart attack when we played them, and we came out flat both halves, and they scored early. They're a huge threat. They're ranked No. 19, and I don't think that does them justice, because they are a really threatening team."
Should South advance, it would meet the winner of the first regional semifinal between No. 13 Castle and Perry Meridian, also teams the Panthers saw in the regular season.
"We played every one of the teams that we could potentially see this weekend, and they're all great teams," Panthers coach Kevin Sparks said. "We had our loss (Perry Meridian) and our tie against two of these teams, and there's kind of a revenge feeling these guys have. They want these opportunities again."