Columbus East’s chances of repeating as Hoosier Hills Conference boys soccer champions took a little bit of a hit on Saturday.
The Olympians played to their sixth tie of the season, a 1-1 draw with New Albany that left them 4-2-6 overall and 3-0-2 in the Hoosier Hills Conference.
“I thought we just kind of came out flat and didn’t really execute the game plan,” East coach Josh Gonsior said. “We didn’t play a good team game today.”
The Olympians outshot the Bulldogs 18-4, putting seven shots on goal to New Albany’s four. But the Bulldogs made their first shot of the game count when Gus Dickman chipped one over the head of East goalkeeper Pete Coriden in the 20th minute.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime after New Albany had the wind at its back at the first half, the Olympians used the wind to their advantage to create several opportunities in the second half.
East finally broke through in the 61st minute when Bulldogs keeper Quincy Rainey came out of the box to challenge Logan Cline for a ball. Rainey got to it first, but the ball ricocheted off Cline toward the goal, and Cline had an open net for the easy finish.
The Olympians had a couple chances to win in the final two minutes, but Rainey saved a point-blank shot by Cline in the 79th minute, and Chris Quisenberry’s corner kick in the final 20 seconds sailed over the net.
Coriden finished with three saves.
“I thought the defense played pretty good,” Gonsior said. “They’ve been pretty consistent throughout the season, and we’re just struggling to find the back of the net. That’s a problem that we’re going to have to solve if we’re going to go anywhere in the tournament, especially with them in our sectional.”
