Norah Dwenger
The Columbus East girls soccer team started fast out of the gate in Thursday night’s match with Class 2A No. 13 Batesville.
The Olympians got two goals in the first half, and that was all that was needed to come away with a 2-0 victory over the Bulldogs at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
“I thought this was a really good game for us. We played a very good team. They’re ranked, and it was their first loss (of the season),” East coach Ilya Schwartzman said. “I thought we did really well controlling the game. I thought our passing combinations were good. Defensively, we were pretty solid with good marking, and we took away their strengths really well. We came together tonight, and that was probably our best game we played overall as a team.”
The Olympians (3-3-2) had a great chance to get on the scoreboard in the 17th minute when the ball was forwarded to Norah Dwenger, but her shot from the right side landed right at the hands of Batesville goalkeeper Renee Lecher. Dwenger redeemed herself a couple minutes later when she found herself nearly in the same position as before, but this time, her shot deflected off of Lecher’s hands and into the back of the net to put the Olympians ahead 1-0.
East added an insurance goal right before the first half in the 40th minute when Ruth Federle made the tight pass through defenders to an open Dwenger and the shot went into the net in increase the lead over the Bulldogs (5-1) to 2-0 at the break.
“We’ve been having a lot of really good shots in games recently, but we haven’t gotten them to fall in,” Dwenger said. “The consistency of keep shooting and getting those shots off, we finally got them to fall and things started working out.”
The Olympians had several chances to add to the lead in the second half but couldn’t manage a goal.
Next up for East is a Hoosier Hills Conference home matchup with Floyd Central on Saturday. It’s a huge matchup for both teams with the winner controlling their own destiny for the conference title.
“Floyd’s always a real good team,” Dwenger said. “I think we got to focus on keeping our defense connected and passing well and communicating with each other. I think if we work as a tea, then we’ll be able to handle it pretty well.”
