With the Hoosier Hills Conference girls soccer title usually coming down to Columbus East and Floyd Central, Alana Dwenger and her East teammates realized the importance of Saturday night’s battle.
Dwenger scored five first-half goals, and the Olympians took control of the HHC race with a 6-1 victory against the Highlanders.
“I think this is a huge win,” Dwenger said. “Floyd has always been our biggest competition, and with this game, we made a big statement.”
All of the scoring took place in the first half. Dwenger put East (5-4, 3-0) on the board in the fifth minute when she took a lead pass from Abby Miller and scored on a breakaway. Dwenger scored again in the 14th minute when she gathered the ball in the left corner, made a spin move, dribbled into the box and put one through the hands of Highlanders keeper Kylie Koch.
Two minutes later, Dwenger made it 3-0 when she turned and put one in off the left post. Her fourth goal came in the 21st minute off an assist from Nadia Harris.
“She was on fire,” East coach Ilya Schwartzman said. “She had a great game with great finishing. She played a very solid game overall, both on the offensive and defensive side. But we also found her. We had really good distribution and found passing lanes. It was a great performance by Dwenger, but also by everybody as they contributed to this victory.”
Gabi Schuetz scored the fifth goal for the Olympians off an assist from Miller in the 23rd minute.
Floyd Central got on the board in the 30th minute when East keeper Anna Liimatta made saves on back-to-back point-blank shots, but Kendyl Rumple put in the rebound on the third try.
A minute later, Dwenger took a pass from Sydney Berkemeier, put a crossover move on a defender and scored again to make it 6-1.
“We just realized it was a huge game and we came out pretty hard,” Dwenger said. “We were finding each other in combos. Abby was doing a great job of hitting me and Nadia and Sydney, and everything I was shooting was going in.”
The Olympians outshot the Highlanders 28-9, putting 14 shots on goal to Floyd Central’s five. Liimatta recorded three saves over the first 72 minutes, and Heidi Murphy played the final eight minutes in goal and had one save.
“The ladies came out ready to play and took care of business early and had a great first half with a lot of passing and service into the box and finishing,” Schwartzman said. “Defensively, we were very good except a brief lapse where we gave them a goal. But overall, I was very pleased, especially the first half.”
Schwartzman knows that despite Saturday’s win, the HHC race is far from over.
“I think Seymour is in the mix, and we have to go to New Albany,” Schwartzman said. “Jeffersonville is a question mark because I haven’t seen them play. We’re taking every game seriously.”
