News
Sam Holland with his prizes for winning 2022 Goal of the Year
After the grueling month long tournament, we have a champion. Sam Holland beat the best goals NHS Boys Soccer had to offer and came out victorious. Sam wins the rights to the championship belt and a retro NHS jersey. Congrats Sam on your wonder strike. We are looking forward to bigger and better things your senior year. Below is Sam’s impressive strike against Penn High school in Semi-State.
It’s Spy vs. Spy. I mean Sam vs. Sam. The championship round pits Sam Holland vs. Sam Holland. May the better Sam win! If you understand the image reference above, you’re probably at least 35 years old
We have a winner! Well not exactly. The 2022 Goal of the Year is yet to be determined. But we do know that the goal of the year comes off the boot of Sam Holland. Two of his strikes have made it to the championship. So whether you favor his wonderful volley against Penn in Semi-State or his last minute heroics against Warsaw in the Regional Semifinal, Sam Holland is your 2022 champion.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that my favorite goal of 2022 was knocked out in the Final Four. (Here is a list of my top 10 goals I created at the beginning of the bracket) Playoff Jake (Johns) and his strike against Columbus North in the state championship has a special place in my heart. Jake battled injury all season and when it was the pressure moment, he rose to the occasion, giving us a 1-0 lead we would never relinquish. Congrats on an amazing 4 years and 2 state champions Playoff Jake!
Anyways, let’s get to the voting for the Championship. As always, check out the procedures to vote below
Check out the bracket as it stands after the Final 4 round of voting HERE
Click on the link for the Championship YouTube Playlist.
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on this Google Form.
Voting for the championship will be closed Sunday, May 6th at 11:59PM. Get your votes in now. Check back on Monday to see which Sam Holland goal is crowned goal of the year!
Sam Holland has 2 of the 4 goals remaining. Will he monopolize the final or be shut out by Jake Johns and AJ Tippner? Only time and the votes will tell.
Senior Night. #1 ranked Zionsville. Coach Dollaske’s 2nd game back from his paternity leave. We knew we had a chance to win if we played our game. Little did we know we would blow them out of the water with a 5-1 drubbing. And the crown jewel goal was Sam Divis’ bending free kick around the wall to put the game out of reach at 4-1. Alas, the voters did not feel the same way and his goal bowed out of our competition in the Elite 8.
Anyways, 4 goals remain. It’s Dollaske Region (Sam Holland) vs. Keller Region (AJ Tippner). A junior who has many expectations for his senior year (Holland) vs. a senior who went through many hardships (torn ACL) to have a successful season. And then we have Hart Region (Jake Johns) vs. Doering Region (Sam Holland). Playoff Jake who ripped off goal after goal in the playoffs to earn back to back state titles vs. the future of the program in Holland. The Final Four is here and we could not be more excited.
Let’s get to the voting for the Final 4. As always, check out the procedures to vote below
Check out the bracket as it stands after the Elite 8 round of voting HERE
Click on the link for the Final 4 YouTube Playlist.
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on this Google Form.
Voting for the Final 4 will be closed Wednesday, May 3rd at 11:59PM. Get your votes in now. The Championship Round will open up Thursday, May 4th. We will have a champion by the end of the week!
Sam Divis celebrates his free kick goal with fans and teammates on senior night
After a brief 4 day hiatus due to unforeseen circumstances, we are back with the Elite 8. The voting margins have been razor thin so if you still have a goal in the bracket, tell EVERYONE to vote for you. If you win, not only do you get bragging rights for the best goal of the year, but you also get your pick of a retro NHS soccer jersey to take home and flex all over your friends. We have 8 goals remaining, and 4 of them are Coach Dollaske’s top 10 favorite goals from the past season (I won’t say which ones until the voting is over).
Here is a list of the players that have goals remaining in the bracket and how many goals they have in parentheses:
Sam Holland (2)
Sam Divis (2)
Miles Tucker (1)
Jake Johns (1)
Luke Odle (1)
AJ Tippner (1)
As always check out the procedures to vote below
Check out the bracket as it stands after the Sweet 16 round of voting HERE
Click on the link for the Elite 8 YouTube Playlist.
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on this Google Form. All 4 regions are on 1 Google Form. Make sure to vote for all 4 regions. Let’s get as much participation as possible!
Voting for the Elite 8 will be closed Wednesday, April 26th at 11:59 PM. Get your votes in now. The Final Four will open up Thursday, April 27th
Our GKs are the backbone of our program. Even though we are celebrating our offense during the Goal of the Year bracket, our state championship DOES NOT HAPPEN without our Goalkeeper Union and their fearless leader, Coach Hart.
Another round has come and gone. We are left with 16 quality candidates for goal of the year according to you, the voter.
Here is a list of the players that have goals remaining in the bracket and how many goals they have in parentheses:
Sam Holland (4)
Sam Divis (3)
Miles Tucker (2)
Korey Klimek (2)
Clay Janes (1)
Jake Johns (1)
Pavlos Michaeloff (1)
Luke Odle (1)
As always check out the procedures to vote below
Check out the bracket as it stands after the 2nd round of voting HERE
Click on the link for the Sweet 16 YouTube Playlist.
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on this Google Form. All 4 regions are on 1 Google Form. Make sure to vote for all 4 regions. Let’s get as much participation as possible!
Voting for the Sweet 16 will be closed Wednesday, April 19th at 11:59 PM. Get your votes in now. The Elite 8 will open up Thursday, April 20th
Jake Johns celebrating his goal in the State Final against Columbus North
Welcome back to the Goal of the Year Bracket. We have trimmed the field from 64 down to 32. Unlike last year, many of Coach Dollaske’s favorite goals from the year are still in the running. Let’s see if that is still the case as we head towards the Sweet 16.
Check out the bracket as it stands after the 1st round of voting HERE
Click on the links below for each Region to access the YouTube Playlist. The playlists are set up to have competing seeds as back to back videos.
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on this Google Form. All 4 regions are now on 1 Google Form. Make sure to vote for all 4 regions. Let’s get as much participation as possible!
Voting for Round 2 will be closed Sunday, April 16th at 11:59 PM. Get your votes in now. The Sweet 16 will open up Monday, April 17th
Both the boys and girls programs with their 2022 state championship trophies
It was a banner year for the NHS boys soccer program. A 2nd consecutive state title, national recognition in the polls, and many players taking home post-season awards including Academic All-State, All-Conference, All-District, All-State, and All-American. But the crown jewel of the season is upon us. It is time to vote for the Goal of the Year! We’re glad you could join us on this journey to find the most impressive tally of the 2022 season. Who will join the wonder strikes of 2019 (Jack Miller), 2020 (Brady Horn), and 2021 (Adam Eberhart). Time and your votes will tell.
Each year the bracket has grown. Innovation is the name of the game. Last year, there were 2 new elements to tournament. Those innovations (listed below) have been kept for a second year. This year the innovation is that all goal descriptions are directly on the YouTube video. So if you have trouble keeping up with the play, read the description below each video to help orient your viewing.
The goals have been randomly seeded. No more arguing with the committee (of one) on what seed you got. An impressive goal might have been given a #15 seed. This can lead to upsets galore!
The JV programs get in on the action. We have 64 goals in the bracket. 48 come from Varsity contests with 16 coming from JV contests. We have 8 JV Black and 8 JV Gold entries. These Cinderellas just might take down a seasoned blue blood or two a la Florida Atlantic
Check out the bracket HERE. Without further ado, let’s get to the voting. For Round 1, it will take some time to get through all the videos. Each goal is roughly 20 seconds in length and there are 64 of them. Make sure to set aside 20 minutes and watch each clip with an undivided attention. Who doesn’t enjoy going down YouTube rabbit holes from time to time? Don’t worry, as we progress through the rounds, goals will be eliminated and the amount of time for voting greatly decreases. It really is just this first round of voting that takes a long time.
Click on the links below for each Region to access the YouTube Playlist. The playlists are set up to have competing seeds as back to back videos. Play two videos, pause to make your selection, and then move on to the next pair of videos. This year, the description of each goal is directly in the YouTube video description
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on these Google Forms. Make sure to vote for all 4 regions. Let’s get as much participation as possible this year!
Voting for Round 1 will be closed Wednesday, April 12th at 11:59 PM. Get your votes in now. Round 2 will open up Thursday, April 13th in the morning after round 1 votes have been tabulated.
Last year, Noblesville won its first boys state soccer championship with a talented senior class, including five Division I players. This year? Expectations, at least from the outside, were understandably a bit muted with just one starter returning.
“We always say, ‘Everyone doubted us,’” said that one returning starter, senior Jake Johns. “So it’s good to prove them wrong and win it.”
It is probably fitting it was Johns who scored Noblesville’s lone goal Saturday afternoon at IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium in a 1-0 victory over Columbus North for the Class 3A state championship. Johns was waiting at the top of the box when teammate Sam Divis dropped the ball to him. He let it fly into the right top corner of the net, just beyond the outstretched arms of Columbus North junior goalkeeper Max Grewe at the 23-minute mark of the first half.
Brebeuf goalie loves pressure.And he was at his very best in Class 2A soccer title game.
“Divis is a playmaker and just trying to dribble people and I was waiting at the top of the box,” Johns said. “Next thing you know, the ball is coming to me and I got one shot. I just shot it as hard as possible and it somehow went in. I put a little ‘swaz’ on it.”
Noblesville (16-3-3) was ranked seventh going into the tournament, but handled fifth-ranked Hamilton Southeastern 3-0 in the sectional championship and won three one-goal games against Warsaw (2-1) and Carroll (4-3) in the regional and Penn (3-2) in the semistate. That experience in close games turned out to be beneficial for the Millers, which controlled the first half but led just 1-0 going into halftime after a couple of near-misses, including one shot off the post.
“We said at halftime, ‘Whoever gets the next goal is probably going to win the game,’” Noblesville coach Ken Dollaske said. “Little did we know that nobody was going to get the next goal and our first goal would be the one that stands up as the game winner.”
The second half, in part because Noblesville was nursing the lead and Columbus North on the chase, was largely controlled by the fourth-ranked Bull Dogs (19-2-1), who took eight shots on goal after halftime to four for Noblesville. Columbus North had two chances midway through the second half that were snuffed out by Noblesville junior goalkeeper Cole Thompson.
But with a little more than five minutes left, Thompson was called for holding on to the ball too long and received a yellow card. Into the game came senior goalkeeper Noel Pena, who did play in nine games during the season with two shutouts. Pena, in a highly-intense situation, was able to hold the fort on a free kick and corner kick by Columbus North. Thompson then re-entered the game two minutes later.
“We have two amazing keepers,” Dollaske said. “And it’s tough that we have to make a decision on who we are starting in a state championship game, but honestly it’s choice ‘1A’ and ‘1B’ between Cole Thompson and Noel Pena. It just proved that when Cole gets a yellow card and he’s very emotional and Noel goes in there, he saved us. There were two opportunities for them to tie that game and extend it to extra time and he did exactly what he’s done all season.”
It was not exactly how Thompson anticipated the final few minutes playing out, but he was back in the goal when the seconds ticked away.
“You just have to refocus and get that out of your mind,” he said. “Because if it’s in our mind and you make a mistake, it could cost you the game.”
Dollaske said three of Noblesville’s players from last year’s team — IUPUI freshmen Spencer Holland, Brady Horn and Gabe Ingle — met with Millers before going to their game at Grand Park against Purdue Fort Wayne Saturday afternoon.
“Does it make it sweeter to back-to-back with a team where you have brand-new starters in there?” Dollaske said. “Sure. … But this state title isn’t just for the 25 guys that dressed or the 30 on the roster. It’s for everybody.”
Dollaske added that the goal is to “build a dynasty.” In his mind, that means three in a row. But to get a chance at three, the Millers first had to go back-to-back. And that a sweet feeling, especially for a senior like Johns, who scored his second goal of the season and was limited to 12 games (no losses) this season.
“It’s not like you have a couple players come in and make a difference,” Johns said “It’s the team that makes a difference. When everyone comes together and actually trusts each other, it’s the program itself that is good.”
By Kyle Neddenriep - IndyStar
Your 2021 Champion for the Goal of the Year Bracket - Adam Eberhart
After a month of voting, we have reached the conclusion of our Goal of the Year bracket for 2021. It was a magical run for junior Adam Eberhart. He had two entries in this year’s bracket and his glorious strike against Westfield has been crowned champion. He now joins the ranks of Jack Miller and Brady Horn as Goal of the Year Champs (along with Gabe Imes who was voted IndyStar Play of the Year for his free kick strike during the 2018 season). Congrats to Adam! As we look forward hopefully the 2022 season can provide us with equally amazing bangers for us to vote on…along with another state championship. Until next time. Go Millers!
Adam Eberhart celebrating with teammates
Palmer Ault faking out the Carmel GK
How it started: 64 amazing goals vying for immortality
How it’s going: 2 goals remain vying for top dog status. Palmer Ault vs. Adam Eberhart. 2 will enter. Only one will exit victorious and claim best goal of the 2021 campaign.
Quick side note: The Holland household is wondering what could have been. Both Spencer and Sammy Holland lost in the Final 4. An all-Holland final never materialized.
Before we get to the voting, I wanted to take this opportunity to honor the goalkeepers of this past season. Being a GK can be a very lonely position. Along with defenders, goalkeepers rarely get the glory and accolades they deserve. Considering we were so successful this past season at limiting opponents shots, our goalkeepers weren’t put under pressure often. But when they did see shots, they made some amazing saves. HERE is a video of the top 5 saves of the 2021 season
Let’s get to the voting for the champion. As always, check out the procedures to vote below
Check out the bracket as it stands after the Final 4 round of voting HERE
Click on the link for the Championship YouTube Playlist.
Enjoy the amazing goals.
Cast your votes on this Google Form.
Voting for the Championship will be closed Thursday, May 5th at 11:59PM. Get your votes in now. We will crown the championship on Friday!
