Indian Springs’ season ends in Final Four loss to St. Michael Catholic
Published 8:21 am Thursday, May 8, 2025
Indian Springs’ season ended in the Final Four as a strong effort from Springs was outmatched by four goals from St. Michael Catholic. (Reporter Photos/Andrew Simonson)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
HUNTSVILLE – Indian Springs School put forth a valiant effort in its return to the Class 5A Final Four for the first time since 2022, but its trip ended in defeat to another one of the best teams in the classification.
No. 8 Indian Springs lost 4-1 to the No. 2 St. Michael Catholic Cardinals on Wednesday, May 7 at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, ending their season one game short of a state championship appearance.
“We played really hard. The girls played really hard,” Indian Springs coach Justin Pino said. “It was 1-1 at half and credit to St. Michael. They passed the ball really well. They moved the ball really well, got up on top of us, and we couldn’t really get out of it. But it was a good season, played well and got to a Final Four.”
Springs quickly found themselves on the back foot after conceding a penalty in the fifth minute. The Cardinals converted from the spot to take a 1-0 lead.
Indian Springs worked to respond to the goal, winning a free kick in the 11th minute that led to a chance from Violet Levine.
However, their breakthrough would come off the counterattack once Ashna Mehra broke away in the 16th minute. She went on the run and fired a low shot across goal to knot up the score at 1-1. Mia Phillips followed that up with a high shot mere seconds later.
Both teams would have strong chances down the stretch, including a low shot from St. Michael that forced a diving save from Springs’ Phoebe Evans in the 24th minute and a spilled ball from the Cardinals keeper in the 32nd minute that led to a missed shot from Paula Kube.
St. Michael ended the half with a string of missed corners but used that momentum to break open the 1-1 score line early in the second half.
After a pair of shots in the 42nd minute, the Cardinals went on the counterattack two minutes later, flicking a ball that was tipped by the Indian Springs keeper to go up 2-1.
Mehra then had a pair of chances in the next 10 minutes. She got tackled on a breakaway in the 48th minute, which drew a yellow card, and had a rolling shot in the 53rd minute miss.
Just before the hour mark, St. Michael got off three shots in three minutes and set the stage for its big finish. The Cardinals stole the ball away in the 67th minute and teed off from outside the box to score their third goal, and a counterattack goal in the 70th minute made the lead 4-1.
Springs had a couple of long balls in the final 10 minutes, but their attack couldn’t put the pieces together that they needed to respond, which sealed the 4-1 win for St. Michael.
Looking back on the year that saw Indian Springs finish 13-4-3 as area champions and the No. 8 team in Class 5A, Pino is extremely proud of his team for bouncing back from a couple of difficult years in Class 6A to make it back to Huntsville.
We did really well in our area and took care of all those games, won a lot of games, a lot of shutouts,” Pino said. “But, you get up here at the Final Four, everybody can play. Everyone’s here for a reason, and we fought well to get here.”
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