Fishers had no answer to the early Columbus East offensive attack in Saturday’s boys soccer match.
East junior Justin Copas picked up two goals in the first five minutes of the game, and the Olympians went on to post a 5-1 victory.
The Olympians move to 4-4 after stringing together back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Copas is hopeful these consecutive victories are a step in the right direction after a slow start to the year.
“Our team chemistry since we lost quite a few seniors (last year) has been down at first,” he said. “It has taken a bit for us to get some goals in, but our attack is connecting more and working better.”
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In the fourth minute, East started a counterattack. Simon Tunny crossed a ball to Copas, who put it in the net. In the fifth minute, Copas took a shot that just went past Tigers goalkeeper Jon Peskin for his second goal of the match.
“The game plan was to sit in and let them play into us and then go for the counterattack,” Copas said. “After that, those opportunities for us just kept coming and coming.”
The third Olympians goal came in the 30th minute when Dustin Rodgers followed his own rebound and put one past Peskin and in the net.
In the 38th minute, Nicholas Shedd snagged a ball that was heading toward the right end line after a long pass. Shedd turned and booted it to the left corner for the fourth goal of the first half.
“When we got the first couple of goals, we kept attacking,” Shedd said. “We have been working on long throws in practice. It was a little lucky, but everything just worked out.”
Fishers did manage to get on the scoreboard in the 39th minute when Brock Cornell received a free kick pass and tapped it in the net.
East’s final goal came in the 48th minute when Copas assisted Rodgers to give Rodgers his second goal of the game. No goals were scored for the rest of the game as light rain began to fall following the Rodgers goal, with the heaviest rain occurring in the 64th minute.
The Olympians had 13 shots, with nine of them on goal. The Tigers had eight shots, with six on goal.
Zach Roberts, in his third game as East’s goalkeeper, finished with five saves.
“Zach had some big saves for us,” East coach Brad Barber said. “Fishers got one on us at the end of the first half, but he had a first-class game.”
Barber was pleased with the effort and execution his team displayed.
“Our attack has been on the doorstep of putting a number of goals away throughout the season, and it registered today, and I couldn’t be happier with the execution of what we have been working on all week,” he said.
