The Hamilton Southeastern Royals boys varsity soccer team finished their season 13-3-3 overall and 4-2-1 in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. The boys battled through their season when faced with adversity. The Royals won their first sectional game against the Fishers Tigers 4-2 on October 5, 2022 to advance to the sectional 7 semi-final. They then fell short by 3 goals in the sectional semi-finals when they faced the Noblesville Millers.

The Tigers were previously ranked 14th in the state of Indiana going into sectionals while the Royals were ranked 8th. The win against Fishers was definitely a huge win given it was a mudsock match-up and a sectional game.

Many memories were made over the season and senior Gavin McKenzie shared, “My favorite memory this year was beating fishers in sectionals,” said McKenzie. “The way we all reacted showed how much we wanted to win. Every royal in athletics wants to beat fishers in a sectional game and it felt great to end their season on their home field after receiving a tough loss to them during the regular season.”

Unfortunately the Royals could not pull off the win against the Millers who were ranked 3rd going into sectionals. Going into the game the Royals were the underdogs. They put up a fight but couldn’t execute enough to put up points.

“When we were faced with adversity as a team this season during the Fishers game this season, the team handled it very well,” said captain and junior Evan Shideler. “We didn’t end up winning the game, but the fight that we put up never stopped.”

The Royals had a great season despite the outcome in the postseason. Their positive attitude was key to winning majority of their games.

“A time I thought we were faced with great adversity was when we were playing away against a tough carmel team,” said McKenzie. “We had been down 1-0 going into half after a very one sided half. After a long rain delay we came out with a lot of energy and managed to put up 2 goals in the final 10 minutes to win 2-1.”

Overall, they boys had a great season. A few of their big wins were against Carmel in their 3rd game of the season winning the game 2-1. Carmel finished 2nd in the state after the regular season. Another big win for the Royals was against Franklin Central, the Royals swept them 7-0 during the regular season.