The Columbus East boys soccer team looked like it was on its way to a victory after taking the halftime lead against Hoosier Hills Conference rival Seymour Tuesday night.
In the second half, momentum quickly changed.
The Owls picked up the equalizing goal in the 57th minute. Later in the second half, they scored two more goals in a span of two minutes to hand the Olympians a 3-1 loss.
“We had a lot of possession, and we were comfortable with where we were,” Seymour coach Matt Dennis said. “Most of our issue was execution, and in the second half we took a lot of shots. We concentrated on getting the final ball in, and that helped.”
East’s goal came in the 24th minute when Antony Espinoza booted it across to an open Ricky Johnson who put it in for a 1-0 lead.
“The middle 40 minutes of the game, we played our style of soccer,” East coach Brad Barber said. “We really imposed our brand. We generated a lot of scoring opportunities but were not able to put it in the back of the net. Momentum shifted to Seymour in the second half, and they did a lot better of finishing their opportunities.”
The Owls tied the game when Cole Fosbrink shot from way outside the box but a miscommunication by Scott Hammond and Olympians goalkeeper Andy Davidson saw the ball slowly past both of them and into the net.
In the 72nd minute, Seymour’s Brayan Morales hit the header in for the lead. In the 74th, Zach Moore booted a strong kick just inside midfield, and the trajectory was just high enough that Davidson was unable to come up with it.
A couple of other huge scoring chances came early on for Seymour. In the 17th minute, Mason Pottschmidt kicked the ball but landed at the hands of Davidson. In the 19th minute, the Owls had a huge opportunity but failed to convert on a header that went just wide to the right.
East had some scoring chances in the second half, Justin Copas kicked a floater that just went over the crossbar. Copas also had a free kick outside of the goal box but a great save by Seymour keeper Elliott Clark.
The Owls finished with 13 shots, with six shots on goal. The Olympians had nine shots with four on goal.
