In its final home game of the season Tuesday night, the Columbus East girls soccer team honored its four seniors on the field pregame.
Once the ball was kicked off, the Olympians sent the four out in style. Alana Dwenger put together a first-half hat trick, and Jaeda Berkmeier scored two goals of her own, and East dominated Jeffersonville 5-0 to clinch at least a share of the Hoosier Hills Conference title.
“These are absolutely phenomenal individuals,” East coach Ilya Schwartzman of his four seniors. “They’re great students. They’re great people. They’ve helped us build this program and helped us reestablish ourselves as one of the elite programs in the state. We are going to miss them tremendously.”
Dwenger put the Olympians (11-2, 6-0) on the board in the eighth minute off a cross from senior Breiana Burton that deflected off a Jeffersonville defender.
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In the 26th minute, Berkmeier put a pass right on Dwenger’s foot inside the box, which she was able to easily push past the goalkeeper. One minute later, Dwenger completed her hat trick off an assist from senior Sarah Park, sending a bullet into the left side of the net from near the penalty shot marker.
In the final minute of the half, Berkmeier got on the board off Park’s second assist of the night, leading the pass right in front of the net for the tap in.
“I think it was all about channeling the emotion and channeling it to what we wanted to get done,” Park said of her mentality going into senior night.
Berkmeier opened the second-half scoring for East in the 45th minute, weaving into the box and sending a shot into the net from 15 yards out.
The Olympians held Jeffersonville to only two shots, with none coming on goal en route to their third consecutive shutout victory.
“Its always a super emotional night for everyone. I knew I just had to enjoy it while it lasted and put the emotions past me,” senior Kamebry Wagner said. “We are really meshing this year. As the season progresses, we’re getting to know each other’s tendencies, and we are just growing together as a team."
East can win the HHC title outright with a win at Seymour on Sept. 27.
“The focus needs to be still on defensive aggressiveness and proper positioning. I think we have done a really good job this year from a defensive stand point,” Schwartzman said. “We need to continue to step up. They don’t say it for no reason that defense wins championships. We’ve got to continue to focus defensively and continue to play strong.”
