CARMEL – Cali Douglas was one of the first Brownsburg Bulldogs to grab hold of the regional championship trophy on Saturday.
Minutes prior, her teammates embraced Douglas and hoisted her up onto her feet after the senior crumbled to the turf in elation inside Carmel’s Brian Murray Memorial Stadium.
An underdog all season – and particularly this postseason – the unranked Class 3A Bulldogs (9-7-4) kept their improbable playoff run alive with a 4-2 penalty-kick shootout win against 3A No. 7 Noblesville (10-4-4) to clinch the program’s first regional title in 16 years.
Douglas buried the decisive goal, breaking a 1-1 tie after 14 minutes of overtime following a scoreless deadlock through 80 minutes of regulation.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. My freshman and sophomore year, we won sectional both years, and then first round of regional played Carmel, and Carmel’s been crazy good for the past 10 years,” Douglas said. “It’s just been a long time coming.”
Brownsburg’s 10th regional championship all time and first since 2010 seemed impossible after the team started the year 3-4-4 before regrouping and redeploying a revamped lineup to win six of their next eight games, including on Saturday.
“About 11 games in, we started figuring things out during the season. We took our goalkeeper, who’s actually committed to IU Indy to play in goal, Division I, and we moved her into the field,” Brownsburg coach Josh George said. “She’s our leading scorer and our leader in assists now. That’s only playing eight or nine games in the field.”
Senior Lorianne West began the year in goal for the Bulldogs for 10 games with two shutouts and 40 saves, but in the second half of the season she’s made an impact at striker.
It also opened the door for junior goalkeeper Vivian Devis, who logged five saves through 94 minutes against the Noblesville Millers and two crucial stops in the PK shootout.
“I knew she had it in the bag. It’s obviously exciting because I’ve been in that same situation as her before, and I knew she could handle it,” West said. “I’ve seen her do it before, so it was exciting to see her be able to succeed.”
Devis and West both play club soccer together, which has fueled their chemistry and bond since the latter moved from South Carolina last year.
The sacrifices both made this season are now paying dividends for the Bulldogs.
“(Vivian) is a very confident kid. The kids believe in her. Coaches believe in her, and I had no doubt that she was going to be just fine,” George said. “When we asked Lorianne to move into the field, she said, 'I just want to win.' That’s Lorianne. She moved here her junior year from Somerville, South Carolina, and down there, she won two state championships in goal. Kid’s just a winner. She just wants to win.”
Devis was a brick wall. With four shutouts this season, Devis fended off the Millers until the 89th minute when senior Tae Gates buried the equalizer to tie the game 1-1.
Brownsburg senior Josie Slinkard broke the scoreless tie in the 86th minute on a free-kick goal, but the Millers were determined to chase down their 12th regional title and fourth in five years (2022-24).
Winners in PK shootouts in their two previous postseason games against No. 3 Westfield and No. 13 Cathedral, Noblesville held the advantage once the outcome shifted to one-on-one.
“In this situation, three games in a row. Emotionally, it’s hard to continue penalty kick to penalty kick to penalty kick shootout. I commend my team for even just having the wherewithal to go through it,” Noblesville coach Mitchell Holden said. “Obviously, we wish we would have found the net a few more times, but both teams are here to win.”
West converted Brownsburg’s first PK attempt before Noblesville tied the shootout 1-1. A save by Devis on Noblesville’s second PK protected Brownsburg’s 2-1 lead.
A save by Millers’ goalkeeper Rachel Castor, a freshman, kept it 2-1 before Noblesville tied it up again, 2-2.
A PK goal by Slinkard and a save by Devis handed the spotlight to Douglas with Brownsburg up 3-2.
“Honestly, I tried to just remove myself from the situation and remove the stress and anxiety and remember that I’m just so blessed to be in this environment with this group of girls,” Douglas said.
As Douglas’ goal laced the back of the net, she turned to her teammates, placed her hands on her head and went down to the ground in astonishment and pride.
“We were not expected to come out on the end of this, so that’s humbling, honestly,” Douglas said. “When we get into situations like this where we’re the underdog, we come out on top. We just play for each other, and that’s all you can do.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Underdawgs. Brownsburg girls' soccer wins first regional title in 16 years