Columbus East boys soccer found itself leading at halftime, but in just the blink of an eye, that lead quickly evaporated.
Class 3A No. 12 Fishers came out with high aggression to start the second half, which produced two quick second-half goals. The Olympians had some opportunities to equal the score, but couldn’t and fell to the Tigers 3-2.
The big difference of the match came in the opening five minutes of the second half when Fishers came out with a lot more intensity and aggression that East didn’t match.
“I thought we played a really good 75 minutes (of the match), and against a top team like Fishers, you have to put a full 80 minutes together,” East assistant coach Nathan Cline said. “We had a lot of things we could build on today, and we did increase our intensity and respond after those two goals that Fishers got in the early part of the second half.”
In the ninth minute, the Olympians (3-2-4) got on the board when Chris Quisenberry received a pass from Logan Cline, and his initial shot was blocked by the Fishers goalkeeper, but the rebound came back to Quisenberry, who finished the play to put East ahead 1-0.
The Tigers then responded with an equalizer in the 30th minute when a corner was given to Fishers. The kick went into the box, and East goalkeeper Pete Coriden made the initial save, but the rebound came to Zayd Almaya, whose shot in the box landed in the net to level the game at 1-1.
The Olympians quickly responded three minutes later when Ben Romig delivered a deep throw in right into the box. After an initial shot was taken, it took a deflection off a defender, but Logan Cline was in the right side for the ball to land directly at him. His open shot hit the net to put East ahead 2-1 at the break.
“We did good job accessing the space that they gave us,” Nathan Cline said of the first half. “We switched the ball really well, and we did bring the intensity. We knew that Fishers was going to come out strong, and the boys were ready. Our midfield played very well, and our defense locked it down. Our forwards moved the ball really well and created opportunities that we hadn’t created in other games.”
Understandably frustrated in the first half, the Tigers came out with a lot of intensity to start the second and it paid off on the scoreboard.
Thirty seconds into the second half, Fishers got the equalizing goal off of a defensive miscue, and Kevin Natzel took advantage when his shot from the far post hit the net to level the game at 2-2. A couple minutes later, the Tigers secured the lead when Jack Kenny found Monee Sayed-Elawad for the go-ahead goal and a 3-2 lead, which would eventually be the final score.
“Overall, I’m really pleased with how we played,” Nathan Cline said. “Now, it’s just a matter of getting a full 80 minutes together.”
Cline was filling in for head coach Josh Gonsior, who was attending a funeral.
