SEYMOUR — With the way the game flow was during Tuesday night’s boys soccer sectional opener between Columbus East and New Albany, it looked like it would need to be decided by penalty kicks.
Chris Quisenberry changed those plans.
In the 50th minute, Logan Cline made a pass to Quisenberry, who received the ball from outside the goalbox. Quisenberry took a couple touches and went past the ball for a moment, but quickly recovered and made the juke past the defender and his shot from the left side of the box sailed right into the upper right corner of the net inside the far post to give the Olympians 1-0 victory.
It was a much different result for East, which had played to a 1-1 draw with New Albany last month.
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“A lot of energy came from the midfield and worked hard and was able to win the diving header, and that was really what started the play,” East coach Josh Gonsior said. “We were to combine Logan and Chris and be able to get the finish, and it was great to see the ball in the back of the net.”
The Olympians (7-2-7) now will face Columbus North, which beat Jennings County 10-0 in Tuesday’s opener, in the semifinal round with the kickoff at 7 p.m. today.
As is typical with close soccer games, the East-New Albany battle started to get more physical towards the end, and the Olympians fended off every offensive attack the Bulldogs had to preserve the win.
East took 12 shots, with eight of them on goal. Goalkeeper Pete Coriden recorded four saves in the shutout.
The Olympians now turn their attention to North. The teams played to a 1-1 draw earlier in the season. The winner of that game will move on to the championship at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“We’ve been talking about that, and it has kind of been the theme — a couple of the sectional teams in here that we tied, and we’re trying to correct those mistakes,” Gonsior said. “We weren’t satisfied with those draws earlier in the season, and we just want to make right by them and I think that is the motivation there, and seeing that familiar opponent and knowing that they had a game where they had a lot of players play tonight, I think it gives us a little extra motivation to really go out there and give our best effort (today).”
