Five Columbus East soccer players scored goals as the Olympians torched visiting Bedford North Lawrence 6-0 on Tuesday at the Wigh Soccer Complex.
East, 4-2-1 overall and 3-0 in Hoosier Hills Conference play, controlled the match from start to finish, leading 2-0 at intermission before quickly putting the game away in the second half.
Most of the action took place on the Stars’ side of the field as the Olympians easily could have had more goals. A number of shots hit the Bedford North Lawrence crossbar or goal posts.
Senior Andrew Thomasson was the only Olympians player to score twice. His first goal came in the sixth minute unassisted and his second goal came in the 68th minute off a crossing assist from Justin Copas.
“Copas and I worked really well together tonight,” Thomasson said. “My first goal, I just played it nice and was able to finish. After that, they started bunkering in on us so we had to play it out wide and cross it in. We adjusted to that at halftime and it worked out well.”
Following a layoff since Aug. 29, East coach Brad Barber said his team showed no signs of rust.
“It was a total effort tonight for the full 80 minutes,” Barber said. “Every one of our players was playing smart, playing hard, and mentally clicked in for the entire game. We had some time off but I thought we had improved throughout the whole week. We had some certain goals we were focusing on and it was nice to see the boys respond so well today.”
Copas agreed.
“It was nice to get this win after our (1-0) loss to Columbus North,” Copas said. “That was a tough loss for us all, and it was great to come back to get a huge win.”
Copas finished the game with three assists. He would also get on the scoreboard in the 58th minute as Thomasson kicked it across to Copas who booted it in from just inside the goal box.
“The momentum we had was over the top,” Copas said. “We worked as a team, and we showed a lot of passion.”
Sam Newell added a goal right before halftime in the 35th minute off a great cross pass from Copas. He sent the ball to the right corner of the net for a 2-0 halftime lead.
Ramiro Nieto scored the first goal in the second half in the 44th minute. Thomasson fed the ball to him, and he outran the defender and beat the keeper. Levi Copas added the final goal of the game in the 73rd minute when he scored off an assist from his brother, Justin.
