The Gibson Southern men’s soccer team traveled to Washington on Wednesday, October 6, to take on the Vincennes Lincoln Alices. In the Titans’ first game of the 2A Sectional 30 tournament, the Titans took down the Alices 5-0. Gibson Southern had a first round bye in the tournament, pitting them against the other bye, the Alices. In the other semifinal, the Washington Hatchets took down the Princeton Tigers 2-0. 

Among those who helped secure the Titan win was junior left back Vann Rose, who scored a goal.

“It was awesome to score, especially on defense because it was our second goal, and it was a nice cushion to add on top of our one goal,” junior Vann Rose said. 

Rose’s goal was the last one scored in the first half, which gave the Titans a lead going into the second half. 

“It was very relieving to get another goal in the Sectional game for sure,” Rose said. 

With Rose’s goal, he was a key contributor to the Titans winning the Sectional semi-final.

The Alices were short handed against the Titans, giving Gibson Southern a fresher lineup on the field.

“The other team eventually got tired because they had no subs,” sophomore Jeffmar Navidad said.

Junior Blake Elpers believed the offense and defense are clicking at the right time and have a lot of momentum heading into the Sectional championship. 

“Our defense always does a great job keeping the ball out of our goal while offense puts it away in theirs,” he said.

While the team is coming together during tournament play, there are other aspects that are gelling in the latter part of the season.

“The experience of our upperclassmen and team leaders is always a key factor when it comes to the playoffs,” head coach Josh Higgins said. “We started slow, but we’re able to bring it together and get the win. A lot of that again goes with our leadership and experience of our upperclassmen. We kept our composure and got the job done.” 

The Titan soccer team will take on the host of the Sectional tournament, the Washington Hatchets, on Saturday, October 9 for the Sectional title. The Titans played Washington earlier this year, where they narrowly edged out the Hatchets for a 2-1 victory. The Titans will look to repeat that success and take them down one more time for a Sectional championship.

The Titans won the Pocket Athletic Conference with a 11-0 conference record, while the Hatchets came in third behind Heritage Hills and Gibson Southern, with a 9-2 conference record. This would be back to back Sectional titles for the Gibson Southern men’s soccer team.