Indian Hill’s defense carried the Braves all season, but on Saturday, November 14, it was junior Claire Frazier who finished the job. Frazier scored both goals as Indian Hill defeated Bay Village Bay 2-1 in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III girls soccer state championship game at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer’s match report.
The title is Indian Hill’s third state championship and its first since 2018. The Braves finished 19-0-4, unbeaten across 23 matches, and dethroned a Bay team (21-3) that had won the previous two Division III state titles, the Enquirer reported. Head coach Amy Dunlap picked up her 382nd career win; her career record stands at 382-116-71, with eight regional championships and now three state titles, according to the Enquirer.
“Just so incredibly proud of this team,” Dunlap told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “They’re resilient, they’re relentless and they just refuse to lose. And where we were when these kids came in four years ago, and then to end their senior year with the state championship, could not be any more exciting.”
Senior Kaylee VanDemark sparked both scoring plays. In the fifth minute, VanDemark fired a hard shot that the Bay keeper could not control, and Frazier pounced on the rebound and tapped it in, the Enquirer reported. In the 47th minute, VanDemark dribbled into space down the left side and crossed past two defenders to Frazier, who had open space and scored from about eight yards out.
“I know Claire’s always going to put her body on the line for the team,” VanDemark told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “She works really hard. Her dedication is unmatchable. I knew I could take (my) player on, so I took her on. I knew (Claire) was going to finish it because she puts everything on the line out there. It was amazing and I was so proud of her.”
Frazier finished with a team-high 11 goals for the season and was in form all week, also scoring in the state semifinal, a 2-1 win over Bexley in which senior Allie McCauley had the other goal, the Enquirer reported. McCauley was second on the team with nine goals, and Frazier was one of six Braves with five goals or more this season.
Bay made the finish tense. The Rockets, who had scored 106 goals this season with five players in double figures, managed only two shots in the first half but seven in the second. Junior Issi Bruno ended the shutout with a strike off a rebound with 5:24 to go, cutting the lead to 2-1, and Bay got one last look in the final seconds before Ada Kurinsky’s shot sailed a yard or two over the crossbar as time ran out, according to the Enquirer.
“I think they’re well-disciplined,” Bay head coach Scott Simpson told the Cincinnati Enquirer of Indian Hill. “They play well. They play on the back well. They were calm and composed. Technically I thought they were pretty solid.”
The numbers behind the title are defensive: Indian Hill outscored its opponents 77-10 this season with 14 shutouts, and won its seven tournament games by a combined 22-4, the Enquirer reported. The Braves’ four draws included one against league rival Mariemont — the newly crowned Division IV state champion — and two against 2025 state champions Madeira and Summit Country Day.
Indian Hill’s starters in the final were Hayden Cushman in goal, Emma O’Brien, Alex Bunkowske, Ivy Wilkes, Kaylee VanDemark, Lanie McCauley, Allie McCauley, Claire Frazier, Caroline Roeder, Lilly Harris and Martha Fox, according to the Enquirer. The Braves’ senior class — O’Brien, Bunkowske, VanDemark, Lauren Zaring, McCauley, Kallie Adams and Kelsey Rosenfeld — closes its career with a state championship.
The Braves also made their limited chances count against a defense that had conceded only 16 goals all season: Indian Hill put 10 shots on the day, six of them on goal, according to the Enquirer. “Our mentality was to come out hard and put one or two in early,” Dunlap told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “They have some incredible players up top and our defense came through time and time again and we’re just so happy for them.”
It was a championship Saturday across the divisions in Columbus. Read our coverage of Seton’s 2-1 Division I title win over Strongsville and Ottawa Hills’ 2-1 Division V title win over Chippewa.
What happens next: Indian Hill will celebrate a third gold trophy back home in Hamilton County, and with Frazier — the final’s two-goal scorer — returning as a senior, the Braves’ title defense begins with its centerpiece already in place.
Photo: Jamie Smed, CC BY