FISHERS -- Never before in the storied history of the Noblesville-Carmel girls soccer rivalry had a game come down to penalty kicks.

But Thursday night, following 94 minutes of scoreless soccer, the teams that shared the No. 1 ranking in the final coaches' poll of the season traded penalty kicks to decide their Hamilton Southeastern Sectional semifinal matchup. The Millers converted four of their five opportunities to three for the Greyhounds to claim a 1-0 victory.

"It's Carmel-Noblesville," Noblesville coach Mike Brady said. "It's not going to be a 4-0 game either way. It's going to come down to a break, it's going to come down to something and this evening it came down to penalty kicks. It's always a shame that it ends that way, but we couldn't have played much longer just in the run of play."

After Carmel's Allie Auscherman and Noblesville's Haley Keller made their teams' first kicks, Millers goalkeeper Ashley Szalwinski stopped a shot by Paige Covington, and Noblesville's MacKenzie Cain converted for a 2-1 lead. But then Kelsey Strout converted for the Greyhounds, and Sam Tiongson stopped a shot by the Millers' Ellen Duckwall. After Carmel's Kat Hanni and Noblesville's Chrissy Tchoula both converted to leave the teams tied at 3-3, Szalwinski stopped a Tiongson shot, and Jessie Craig put one just under the crossbar to give the Millers the victory.

"I love to take them last, just to put the pressure on my shoulders," Craig said. "How can you not be nervous in that situation, but you have to step up and hit it and be confident on your strike."

"As I told the kids, 'We didn't lose,' " Carmel coach Frank Dixon said. "That's (penalty kicks are) a tiebreaker to see who advances in the tournament. We didn't lose the game; they didn't win the game. You just flip a coin and decide who's going forward. That's how we have to look at it."

The Millers (15-0-2), who have not allowed a goal all season, outshot the Greyhounds (15-2-2) 20-7 in regulation and overtime, with both teams putting five shots on goal. Szalwinski finished with seven saves, and Tiongson had five.

"Carmel played a great game, and we came out great and all the girls stepped it up and played their hardest," Craig said. "Going into Saturday, hopefully we can keep it up and win it this time."

Noblesville will face No. 4 Zionsville (14-0-5), a 2-1 winner over No. 11 Southeastern (12-4-3) in Thursday's nightcap, in the finals at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Millers and Eagles will meet for the second time this season. They played to a scoreless tie last month.

"It's going to be a battle," Zionsville coach Ramon Aguillon said. "Noblesville is a great team. They showed it today the way they played against Carmel, and we expect another tough game. They haven't been scored on all season, and that's amazing. We have to focus on getting ready for that game, and we believe we can hang with them."