Columbus North’s Sam Brown celebrates after the Bull Dogs won their IHSAA regional semifinal soccer match against Center Grove at the BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. North defeated the Trojans 3-2 despite playing a man down for a majority of the match.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Class 3A No. 10 Columbus North didn’t panic when it had to play one man down for 55 minutes Wednesday night.
Misaki Takemoto was issued a red card, but the Bull Dogs stayed the course. They played with much more intensity, energy and emotion following the red card and added a couple more goals to come away with a 3-2 win over 3A No. 3 Center Grove in a boys soccer regional semifinal at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
North (13-3-3) will play Floyd Central, which won 1-0 over Castle in the other semifinal match, for the regional title at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bloomington South. Per IHAA rules, Takemoto will have to sit out that game.
It was the second straight game that the Bull Dogs played a man down after coming through with a victory against Roncalli 4-2 in the sectional final, playing with 10 men the final 24 1/2 minutes of that match.
“It reflects with what happens with our team off the field,” North senior Aidan Whitley said about the team’s mental toughness. “I feel like we trust each other a lot. We’re more like a family rather than a team. We realized, ‘Hey! Just because we’re down a man doesn’t mean we’re out.’ We’ve done this before, and we could do it again.”
It was a wild and entertaining first half for fans of both teams. After Center Grove (14-3-2) looked to take control the first 15 minutes of the match, the Bull Dogs got the opportunity they needed in the 23rd minute.
Whitley dribbled the ball upfield and passed to an open Nico Gotoh, who needed only a single touch to direct the kick into the net for a 1-0 lead. A couple of minutes later was when Takemoto was issued the red card for what appeared to be an inadvertent strike to the face of a Trojan defender while Takemoto was dribbling the ball.
Being a man down didn’t stop North from adding another goal in the 25th minute. This time, it was Christian Cardoso that found Gotoh open to deliver the ball into the net to increase the lead to 2-0.
“Today was a big test for our maturity of the team, and also a test for the depth of our team,” Gotoh said. “Losing a huge player like Misaki was a big blow, but I think everyone played their part well and stepped up. It was our duty to step up, and we delivered.”
Center Grove got one back 34 seconds later when Cameron Kraiger found the net to cut the lead to 2-1. That score held at the break.
The goals stalled for the first 20 minutes of the second half. However, the Bull Dogs added the insurance goal they needed when Whitley took a pass from Sam Brown and caught Center Grove off guard and won possession. Whitley took a few dribbles and booted the ball into the net to extend the lead to 3-1.
The goal proved to be huge as the Trojans picked up another goal in the 77th minute from Niekos Whitney, but the North defense held on for the final three minutes to preserve the win.
The Trojans outshot the Bull Dogs 16-10, but North put seven shots on goal to five for Center Grove. Noah Marsh, filling in for Juan Jose Salcedo Calderon, who picked up the red card on Saturday, recorded three saves for the Bull Dogs.
“I’m immensely proud of the team’s character, which was on the line tonight, and they were very resilient in the competition they had against a really tough team,” North coach Andy Glover said.
For a photo gallery, visit https://www.therepublic.com/2023/10/11/photo-gallery-columbus-north-boys-soccer-advances-to-regional-final/
