Sydney Berkemeier
The Columbus East girls soccer team had little to no trouble Tuesday night by scoring five goals in the second half in defeating visiting Jeffersonville 6-0 at the BCSC Soccer Complex on the Olympians senior night.
“They are a joy to be around. They’re fabulous people, great student-athletes and great soccer players,” East coach Ilya Schwartzman said of his seniors. “They meant a ton to the program and they get to celebrate this night. They had a great performance. The first half, we made it a little hard on ourselves, but we came through in the second half and played really well. It’s a great outcome, so we get to celebrate tonight.”
East (6-3-3, 4-0-1) got an early goal right off the bat when Elizabeth Deckard found Sydney Berkemeier, who finished the play into the net for a 1-0 lead. That score would hold up until the break.
Nadia Harris
In the second half, the Olympians picked up a couple of quick goals from Nadia Harris. Her first goal in the 46th minute was unassisted after taking a few dribbles in the box and finishing the play in the net. Her second goal came a couple minutes later in the 48th minute when she got the touch off a pass and then took a few dribbles down the field, and her boot went into the net for a 3-0 lead.
Norah Dwenger picked up her first goal of the match that was unassisted in the 53rd minute. Berkemeier added her second goal off of an assist from Dwenger in the 72nd minute to trigger the running clock with a 5-0 lead. In the closing seconds of the match, Allison Craig added a goal in the 80th minute.
East outshot the Red Devils 24-2.
It was the final home game for the Olympians, who will their final four regular-season matches on the road. On Saturday, they’ll play Center Grove and McCutcheon in the Center Grove Tournament. East will travel to Franklin on Monday and then wrap up the season at Hoosier Hills Conference foe Seymour on Sept. 29. The win against Seymour will give East at least a share of the HHC title.
“In any conference game, we always have a target on our backs, so it’s tough,” Schwartzman said. “Getting another win is huge and we need to keep rolling and continue to play good soccer.”
