2022 AHSAA Girls 4A/5A State Soccer Final - Indian Springs vs.East Limestone
Norah Roller is on a roll. Pun fully intended.
The junior middle-fielder pulled a second straight hat trick as fourth-ranked Indian Springs powered its way to a 5-0 victory over No. 9 East Limestone in today’s Class 4A/5A title game at Huntsville’s John Hunt Park.
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“It’s kind of surreal,” Indian Springs coach Justin Pino said. “I told the girls at the beginning of the year that I thought we were a final four team. We lost in the elite eight last year by a goal and it was all about trying to get back to the final four. We had a good group of players coming back and took it one game at a time. We had five rounds to get here, played some good competition and kept finding a way to win.”
Indian Springs (18-3-1) captured its third girls soccer title, the first since 2005, and swept the Class 4A/5A title games with the boys team capturing the Blue Map with a 1-0 win over Russellville.
“It’s huge, it’s been 17 years,” Pino said. “We’ve had a couple of final four runs. It’s about getting over that hump. We have a tradition here, we’ve gone through a little bit of a drought, but it’s there for the taking.”
Roller was as impressive in the title game as she was in a semifinal matchup with St. James, earning consecutive hat tricks and tournament MVP honors. She had eight shots on goal and finished the state tournament with six goals total.
“It’s awesome, I came into this game thinking and hoping I would get a hat trick,” Roller said. “I set my mind to it, I said to myself, ‘OK, I’m going to do it.’ I love my team, they support me so much and everyone was so excited when I got the hat trick. It feels great, and we’re state champions.”
Beth Scarborough got the scoring started for Indian Springs, taking a 1-0 lead in the third minute, and Roller scored the next two goals on an assist from Shadie Shrestha in the 14th minute and a corner kick in the 20th minute.
“I feel like I have a good sense of the players around me and the defenders,” Roller said. “When I get a chance, see the open goal and know I have a shot, I take it. Even if it misses, most of the time it does, but when it goes in it’s an amazing feeling.”
Chloe Williams extended the lead to 4-0 to open the second half, scoring from 25 yards out on an assist from Scarborough. Roller capped the offensive avalanche on an unassisted goal in the 73rd minute to pull consecutive hat tricks.
“I’ve run out of adjectives to describe her,” Pino said. “I’ve been in this game a long time and she is hands-down the best player I’ve ever coached. Just her ability to see the field, her creativity and her ability to cut and move. She’s a great player but also a great person. She’s a team leader and has all the intangibles you want.”
East Limestone (20-4-0) outscored its first four playoff opponents 15-3 but was held to only six total shots and two shots-on-goal in the championship game.
“We didn’t know anything about this team,” Roller said. “We didn’t expect 5-0 but we came into this game not expecting anything. We played as hard as we could and the results came.”
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