Swift resurrection expected for CAI’s girls’ program

As one of Christian Academy of Indiana’s soccer programs goes from strength to strength, another disbands.
The boys’ varsity team at the New Albany based school is looking forward to an exciting season, one which will culminate in participation in the first ever IHSAA Class A tournament.
However, the three year old girls’ program has been postponed due to lack of participation until next year, athletic director Chris Harper told Kick It.
“This was an unfortunate event as CAI soccer has become a staple in the southern Indiana community,” he said.
Last fall, under the stewardship of JD Dai, the team won its first ever postseason games when beating North Harrison and Charlestown to make it to the semifinals of a competitive nine-team sectional.
The numbers, at a school with an enrollment last year of 169 from 9th to 12th grades, just weren’t there to put a team on the field this fall.
However, the Warriors hope that increasing participation in soccer at middle school level, where its program has 20 plus players, will help to resurrect the girls’ team in the not too distant future.
“Though this year we will not be fielding a team, our girls have begun preparing for the next year,” said Harper.
In fact, soccer is poised for future growth, said the school’s new AD, thanks to the addition this year of a program at elementary level, where there is an enrollment of 300 plus.
“This will help feed up through the varsity levels,” said Harper. “These types of preventive measures help ensure the future success of boys’ and girls’ soccer at CAI.”


Christian Academy of Indiana is eyeing an IHSAA Class A sectional title.

Boys’ head coach Will Lorigan said one of the hard parts about coaching at a private school is the uncertainty of knowing whether or not you can field a team.
“You never know who you'll have from year to year because of transfers, people leaving, and people coming in, he said. “Even now (with the boys), we still don't have a settled number of players because there may be one or two more.”
Meanwhile, Lorigan said the boys’ goal this year is to adjust and develop throughout the following weeks in order to field its strongest team at sectional time.
Standing in the way at the Class A event will be host Providence, Rock Creek, Silver Creek and North Harrison.

“Our number one hurdle, which it has been for the last few years, is getting past Providence,” said Lorigan.
Last year, they came mighty close. After losing 6-0 to the Pioneers in the regular season, they pushed them all the way in the postseason, falling in a penalty shootout in a sectional semifinal encounter.

“While we didn’t win, we took another huge step in the right direction,” said the New Zealander.

“That being said, we can't under-estimate teams like North Harrison, who have a lot of upset potential, and Rock Creek, who can field a very athletic team. Ultimately winning a sectional is still a very difficult task, which is the way it should be.”
This fall, CAI’s strengths will be in defense where brothers Caleb and Josh Moore will pose a problem for the opposition, along with goalkeeper Tyler Stumler.
“Tyler should have a big year for us in goal, while Caleb is a solid presence in our backfield and has been for the last couple of seasons,” said Lorigan.
Midfielder Chris Smith will also be an important cog in the Warrior wheel.
Smith, who scored in a 1-1 tie with Scottsburg in CAI’s season opener on Saturday, was injured for most of last season, but Lorigan said he “will be dominant” in the middle this time round.
CAI’s next game is at home to Austin on Friday (6 p.m.), followed by a trip to Silver Creek next Monday.

Venues revealed for two class sectionals

The sectional venues for this year’s inaugural two class soccer tournaments were revealed by the IHSAA last week.

Schools with an enrollment at 755 or higher will participate in Class 2A, and those below this figure will play in Class 1A.

In total there are 32 sectionals in boys’ and girls’ Class 2A, and 32 also in boys’ Class 1A. Class 1A girls will see 16 different sectionals. All games will be played between October 3-8.

The Class 2A Sectional 30 for boys will take place at Floyd Central, while the 2A girls’ sectional will be hosted by Jeffersonville.

Both sectionals will comprise Floyd Central, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Jasper and Corydon.

New Albany boys’ head coach Dutch Vigar said earlier this year he feels the sectional will be “very competitive and tough.”

“Jasper traditionally has a very strong team,” he said. “We have not played them for one or two years but prior to that, they had a better win-lose record against New Albany than we did against them. I feel Jasper will be considered one of the top teams in the sectional.”

The Class 2A boys’ and girls’ sectional winners will compete in a tough Regional 8, along with the winners from sectionals 29, 31 and 32. Victors could include the likes of powerhouse Evansville Memorial, Washington, Castle and Terre Haute North/South.

There will be two Class 1A boys’ soccer sectionals in the area. Charlestown will host Sectional 59, which consists of Charlestown, Henryville, Salem, Austin and Trinity Lutheran.

Providence will host Class 1A Sectional 60, which comprises Christian Academy of Indiana, North Harrison, Providence, Rock Creek Community Academy and Silver Creek.

Both sectional winners will play in Regional 15, which will take in the winners from the Jac-Cel-Del and Switzerland County tournaments.

The seven team Class A Sectional 45 for girls will take place at Rising Sun. It will feature the hosts, Charlestown, CAI, Providence, Silver Creek, Southwestern and Switzerland County.

The champion will play a one-off game in Regional 15 against the Forest Park sectional winner (tentatively scheduled for Providence).

All regional games will take place between October 12-15. The semi-states will be a two-game format in both classes on October 22, with the state final games taking place at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis on October 29.

This is a welcome departure from the much criticized heretofore two-games-in-a-day final four format.

Hopes are high at Providence that its girls will go on a deep run in Class 1A.
Their confidence is well founded. Of the 32 sectional girls’ winners in last season’s IHSAA tournament, only two – Providence and Evansville Mater Dei — will contest in the new Class 1A.

The Pioneers’ boys’ team is also confident of some success, while Christian Academy of Indiana will be hoping to challenge Providence for hardware too, having taken them to a penalty shootout at last year’s Jeffersonville sectional.

Coaches of programs at smaller schools believe the new system will create opportunities for them to advance in postseason, although there will be fewer local rivalry games in the tournament, and more travel because of the distance between schools.