HSE completes undefeated season, tops Center Grove in 3A state title game

INDIANAPOLIS – A sprinting Kinsley Good stuffed the passing lane just as the soccer ball reached its intended Center Grove target. The Trojans player didn't anticipate the Hamilton Southeastern outside back to be in her vicinity.Good instantly made contact and launched the ball from 40 yards out - over the head and out of reach of the Center Grove goalkeeper. The goal extended the Royals’ lead to two goals in the first half of Saturday's Class 3A state championship game.“Overhit it but it worked out,” Good said. “Perfect timing, ended on one.”Good delivered her first goal of the season on the grandest stage of Indiana high school soccer. It was a SportsCenter Top 10-worthy highlight that helped HSE collect its second consecutive state crown.After Center Grove countered with a strike in the second half, Colorado commit Skylar Mueller - who joined HSE this season - iced the game late with her second goal of the match.The Royals (23-0) secured a 3-1 win over the Trojans (17-3-2) at Michael Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium on Saturday. The No. 1 team in the country became just the third unbeaten, untied state champion in IHSAA girls soccer history.“Doing it once is awesome but doing it twice is just rare and incredible,” said HSE junior Sydney May. “We couldn’t do it without each other and it’s just super important to each other. It’s just awesome.”Mueller got the Royals on board first with a penalty kick. About 20 minutes later, Good delivered her heroics and extended HSE’s lead to two.“The first thought was,’ Wow, didn’t know she had that in her wheelhouse,” said HSE coach Greg Davidson. “A bonus when you can get a goal from your outside back like that and what great vision she had.”After taking a 2-0 deficit into halftime, the Trojans found a gap in HSE’s defense eight minutes into the second period. Senior Mia Marlin, who was stationed on the right side of the box, converted a header that put the team on the board. It was her 32nd goal of the season.The Trojans applied pressure and kept themselves in the hunt until Mueller cut left near the box and hit the game-clincher with about seven minutes left in the game. The HSE defense, which allowed eight goals all year entering Saturday, was rock solid the rest of way.“We just had to keep our mentality,” said HSE senior goalkeeper Hannah Dodge. “We knew that this was a strong team. They had pretty good goal scorers, so it was just our job to stay composed in the back and make sure we didn’t get too frantic about it.”HSE stayed level-headed. The Royals, admittedly, didn’t play up to their own standards but still managed to thwart off a Center Grove that demanded and deserved respect. Aside from the offensive highlights, the Royals were backed by a defense tasked with stopping an elite Center Grove attack.“Ironically, we didn’t have our best game and still won 3-1,” Davidson said. “I would have loved for us to play a little bit more possession and played with our offensive abilities a little more than we typically have in our other 22 games but defensively we were sound … We were pretty sound all game in our midfield, in our back line and the work that the forwards did defensively as well.”HSE’s 2026 season has now become stuff of legend. The Royals have earned real estate in exclusive space. They became the third Indiana girls soccer team to win back to back state titles without a loss in either season, joining Carmel (1994, 1995) and Noblesville (2019, 2020).The Center Grove Trojans didn’t make it easy. They were worthy adversaries that reached the final two of Class 3A. Who returned to the state finals - after their 2024 appearance - and left it out on the field. Their quest for gold was cut short but their voyage was elite in its own right.They vanquished Franklin, Whiteland, East Central, Bloomington South, Evansville North and Brownsburg before they dared to be great against HSE in the postseason finale. Despite what the final score showed, the Trojans were up for the challenge.For the second year in a row, the Royals earned the distinction of 3A royalty. They orchestrated a 2026 season worthy of greatness chatter.With two goals by Mueller, a deep shot by Good and defense that stayed strong, the Royals completed their latest state title quest unbeaten and untied. Their name will be etched in the record book with the best ever in Indiana high school girls soccer. The Mount Rushmore conversation will seemingly include the 2026 HSE Royals.“I definitely think that now with the number of goals that we have scored versus the number that we’ve given up, and the teams that we have played: we have beaten all the top 10 in the state of Indiana,” Davidson said. “I don’t know that the other teams ever played all of the top 10 teams in the state of Indiana and a 2A team that was playing in a state championship game in Guerin Catholic, so I think it’s worthy of a conversation.”Marc Ray is a high school sports reporter at the IndyStar. He can be reached at marc.ray@indystar.com , and on X, formerly Twitter, at @themarcszn.This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: HSE completes undefeated season, tops Center Grove in 3A state title game