The 3A #1 Millers (Indiana) faced the #1 St. Ignatius Cleveland (Ohio) Wildcats Saturday. The highly anticipated matchup took place at neutral site Purdue University Fort Wayne. The Millers scored a goal in the 2nd minute off of a free kick that was drawn by a great run by Palmer Ault. Brayden Doll served up a great ball in front of the Wildcats goal. Brady Horn flicked home a header to the back post past a diving goalkeeper to give the Millers an early lead. The Wildcats were able to maintain possession and had several promising chances as they worked the ball up the field. They converted one of those into a goal in the 9th minute. The Millers took another lead with a goal off of another Doll-Horn set piece, this time a corner kick. Doll once again served a great ball to the Wildcats 6, where Horn again headed in for a goal. The Millers had several promising counterattacks on combination plays between Palmer Ault and Spencer Holland, but were unable to find the back of the net. With the Millers up 2-1, there was a controversial foul call in the box against the Millers with 2 seconds remaining in the first half. The Wildcats scored on the penalty kick, sending the game into halftime tied at 2.

The Wildcats scored a third goal early in the second half after beating the Millers defenders. The Millers were able to complete more passes and maintain possession in the second half, but were unable to convert any of those into goals. The Wildcats earned a second penalty kick in the 78th minute, going up 4-2.

This is the Millers’ first regular season loss since falling to Fishers early in the 19-20 season. The Millers are now 8-1-1 on the season.

The man of the match and championship belt went to Horn. When asked for comment on the game, Horn said that, “it was a really tough game against a great opponent. It was not the result we wanted but a great experience that will definitely benefit our team for the long run.”

The Millers are back in action this week with matches against 2 ranked opponents in Zionsville on Tuesday and Hamilton Southeastern on Thursday.