Lexi Scott’s first goal of the season turned out to be the most important of the season so far for the Nation’s No. 1 Girls Soccer Team, as it was the game-winner in a shootout to give the defending State Champion Penn Kingsmen a 1-1 (5-4 shootout) victory against Noblesville in the Kokomo Semi-State on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Penn (22-0-1) advances to its third consecutive State Championship Game to take on Guerin Catholic (16-1-1). The game will either be on Friday, Oct. 27, or Saturday, Oct. 28, at either Butler or IUPUI. The IHSAA will announce time and location on Sunday. Noblesville, ranked No. 5 in Indiana and No. 35 in the Nation, is done at 14-3-3.

Scott, a senior defender, emerged as a clutch penalty-kick shooter during tryouts for the shootout rotation.

“Lexi has a great shot and she can finish,” Penn Coach Jeff Hart said. “The moment was not too big for her.

“We’ve been working on penalty kicks for weeks,” Hart said. “We whittled it down to 10 or 11 kids. We knew for the last two weeks Lexi was going to be one of the five kids. In the last week, we told her that she would be the fifth, and that’s because of her composure. She’s so calm on the ball, and you never know where the ball is going. When you’re the fifth kicker, it’s usually high pressure, high anxiety and you saw that she stepped up confident and finished it. I’m very proud of her.”

Scott was totally focused on the PK despite shooting into a backdrop of a boisterous Noblesville student section.

“We’ve been practicing all week for this,” Scott said. “Obviously, we never wanted it to get down to this (a shootout). I just treated it like another practice. I went to the same corner I always go it. It was just so much fun.

“It was a very different moment for me (to be a goal-scorer). I was excited, and I knew I had to live up to the moment. Everybody else who was shooting was a midfielder or a forward, but I knew what I had to do. I was awesome to be in that place. We’ve been practicing PK’s, and the coaches realized that I could handle pressure and I could finish.”

Hart thought that Penn’s composure was the difference-maker.

“Our kids have been here before,” Hart said. “We’ve been in tough battles before. We’ve played Noblesville before, now four times in the last 14 months, and basically, it’s been a one-goal game each time, a tight, tight game. We talked about it at halftime, that Noblesville will never quit against us, and we will have to keep our composure. I’m just so proud of this team and the way our kids battled.”

Hart also appreciated the accomplishments of his student-athletes.

“I think we’ll wait another week to let it sink in how well this program has done,” Hart said. “The accomplishments on the field are amazing, and the grade-point average is above 3.7 for the entire program. As coaches, we could not be more fortunate to coach this group of kids.”

PENN 1, Noblesville 1 (Penn wins shootout 5-4)

P – Maya Lacognato (Kristina Lynch assist) 26th minute.

N – Jessica Hudnall (free kick), 43rd minute.

SHOOTOUT

N – Jessica Hudnall.

P – Maya Lacognato.

N – Kelsey Hughes.

P – Brooke VanDyck.

N – Jewell Hensley.

P – Molly McLaughlin.

N – Amber Wolf.

P – Kristina Lynch.

P – Lexi Scott.

Kingsmen senior Paul Moala made a big decision over the weekend.

On Sunday, Oct. 22, the Safety officially announced that he’ll be staying close to home to play college football … Moala committed to play football at the University of Notre Dame!

In the  Tweet seen below, Moala thanked his family, his Penn coaches and fellow teammates and God for his success and the opportunity to play at Notre Dame.

Read more about Moala’s accomplishments for the Kingsmen on the Penn Sports News section of our website  or on the Pennant’s sports news website. Also be sure to follow The Pennant on Twitter for up to the minute sports results, pictures and stories!

The defending state champion Penn Kingsmen Girls Soccer Team, coached by Jeff Hart, earned its third consecutive trip to the State Championship match by defeating Noblesville, 2-1 (5-4 shootout), on Saturday, Oct. 21.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

By DELAYNE SANCHEZ

Penn Girls Soccer phenom Kelsi Carrico, a sophomore, verbally committed to Purdue University.

Carrico is a starter on the Penn Girls Soccer Team that is ranked No. 1 in Indiana and No. 1 in the nation.

"I wanted to play a Big D-I school, so I could play at the highest level of college soccer," Carrico said of committing to Purdue.

Carrico said that going to a big school for college feels more right after coming to Penn. She wanted to be away from home to receive the full "college experience," but close enough so family and friends could come and support her at her games.

As for the Purdue Soccer program itself, Carrico stated she felt comfortable with the coaches and the teammates, which include some former high school and club teammates. Carrico played with current Purdue Boilermaker Alexis Marks on last season's Penn state championship team, and she played with Purdue's Ashley Witucki of Carmel on the Indiana Fire DA club team.  

Carrico joked that because Purdue doesn't have a men's soccer team, the women's soccer team doesn't have to worry about sharing facilities.

On the academic side, Carrico has decided that she wants to pursue becoming a vet, with Purdue having an excellent vet program, however "If I decide to change my mind in the following years, Purdue is such a great and big school that I have many other options to chose from." 

She boasted saying she is honored to get the opportunity to play for Purdue leaving with this comment "Boiler up!"

The Milton String Quartet, which own the Grand Prize of the world-acclaimed Fischoff Competition at the University of Notre Dame, working with Penn High School Orchestra Instructor Anne Tschetter, conducted a clinic for students on Monday, Oct. 16.

The ensemble – violinists Roman Fraser and Maithéna Girault, violist Evan Robinson and cellist Joshua Morris – is based at the McGill International String Quartet Academy in Montreal. They are on a Fischoff Winner’s Tour of the United States, and will perform at the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy.

A Photo Gallery is posted below.

The Penn Girls Soccer Team punched its ticket to the Semi-state with a 3-1 victory in the South Bend Regional against Munster on Monday, Oct. 16.

The game was forced to be made up on Monday from the drenching rain storm Saturday Night.

Penn is 21-0-1 and ranked No. 1 in Indiana and in the nation.

Maya Locognato got the Kingsmen on the board first off an assist from Kristina Lynch in the seventh minute to put the Kingsmen up 1-0.

Kristina Lynch came through for the Kingsmen off an assist from Lauren Cernak in the 50th minute to snap a 1-1 tie.

Molly McLaughlin scored off a header in the 79th minute for the dagger that gave Penn a 3-1 lead.

Penn will play Noblesville at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, at Municipal Stadium in Kokomo for the Semi-state.

Dr. Jerry Thacker, Superintendent of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation, recently learned that the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents (IAPSS) named him the IAPSS 2017 Outstanding Educator. 

The public announcement of Dr. Thacker’s recognition will be made at P-H-M Education Foundation’s annual Superintendent’s Luncheon to be held Tuesday, October 17.

This is the second time Dr. Thacker has received this prestigious honor from his IAPSS peers; the first time was in 2013. He was also named Indiana Superintendent of the Year in 2012 and received the Sagamore of the Wabash in 2014—Indiana’s highest award—from then Governor Mike Pence. He has also been recognized as Alumnus of the Year from both IUSB and Bethel College.

Dr. Jerry Thacker began his career in education in Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation as a 6th grade teacher at Madison Elementary School. Having filled a variety of leadership roles at districts across Indiana and Michigan, in July 2006 he returned to the P-H-M schools to serve as superintendent. Under Dr. Thacker’s leadership, the Indiana Department of Education has consistently named P-H-M an “A” Rated School District. The School Corporation now ranks in the state’s top 4% of public school districts with nine Four Star Schools.

No. 1-ranked Penn overcame Northridge and tough playing conditions to post a 4-0 victory against the Raiders on Saturday, Oct. 14, and advance to the Regional Championship match.

Heavy rains and lightning forced the postponement of the Championship Game to Monday, Oct. 16. The game is set for 7 p.m. at South Bend's Tallman-Beyrer Field at the School Field complex.

Penn (20-0-1) will play No.  11 Munster (14-3-2) for the Regional Championship. Penn beat Munster 2-0 in the regular season.

Kristina Lynch stung Northridge with a pair of goals, including a sensational lunging header.

Molly McLaughlin scored off an assist by Lynch.

Riley Chapla scored Penn's fourth goal on a header off a corner from Lynch.

Penn’s Dani Spring lunged across the finish line to edge Elkhart Memorial’s Morgan Dyer to win the Elkhart Cross Country Regional Championship individual title, and lead the Kingsmen to the team title on Saturday, Oct. 14.

Spring led a Kingsmen contingent that placed five runners in the Top 19.

Penn’s Regional Championship is the 17th in Program history, and fourth in the past five seasons.

Spring finished in 18:53.8, a half-second ahead of Dyer.

Lauren Frank finished in fourth for the Kingsmen, running the 5K course in 19:25.48.

Brooke Neal placed 10th in 19:50.10.

Ellie Jankowski was 11th in 19:54.28.

Haley Makowski placed 19th in 20:33.43.

Penn’s Football Team turned the Backyard Brawl into a Backyard Knockout.

Coach Cory Yeoman’s Kingsmen slugged Mishawaka with 48 unanswered points and roared to the Northern Indiana Conference North Division Championship with a 48-7 victory against the Cavemen.

Penn’s NIC title is the 36th in Program history. The Kingsmen have won seven NIC championships in a row.

Penn only needed one play to erase a 7-0 Mishawaka lead. Zach Usenick hauled in a strike from Ryan Lynch and zoomed past the Cavemen defense for a 60-yard touchdown.

Paul Moala recovered a fumble on the Mishawaka 25 on the ensuing series and the Kingsmen cashed in with an eight-yard TD run by Ryan Whiteman.

Penn’s two quick strikes triggered a Kingsmen scoring avalanche as Penn rolled up a 34-7 halftime lead.

Whiteman ended up scoring three TD’s, the three-yard run, a 64-yard run and a 1-yard run.

Quarterback Ryan Lynch scored on a 12-yard sweep.

Lynch also had a second TD pass, a seven-yard connection to Brock Boynton.

Trenton Horvath finished off the Kingsmen scoring with a four-yard run.