The Columbus North boys soccer team found itself down by two early goals in Saturday’s contest against Avon at Richard Wigh Soccer Complex.
The Bull Dogs were able to get a goal back, but couldn’t find the net again and it resulted in a 2-1 loss.
It took less than a minute for Avon to deliver the first strike. Amir Hadzic took the ball down the right side of the field and made a perfect pass to Matthew Bullock, who finished off the play with a header 55 seconds into the game to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
Things stayed even for the next 25 minutes until Avon’s Hudson Gongwer was fouled in the box, and a penalty kick was awarded. Gongwer converted the attempt to increase the margin to 2-0.
Shortly before the end of the half, in the 38th minute, the North got on the board. The Bull Dogs earned a corner kick, and Graham Keele’s boot landed right to the foot of Anthony Johnson, and his kick just sneaked inside the left post to cut the lead to 2-1 at the half.
North turned up the aggression in the second half, but did could not score a goal to show for it. The best chance at the game tying goal came in the 54th minute, when the Bull Dogs were given a free kick just outside the top of the box, but the kick just sailed high over the crossbar.
“We definitely did work hard in the second half, but we checked out the first five minutes and it led to an early goal,” North senior Sotaro Kaneda. “We should have marked the guy (Bullock) on the header, but we kept working in the second half. That goal we scored in the end of the first half got us going, but we couldn’t get a goal in the second half.
North has another tough matchup with crosstown rival Columbus East at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Olympians will be the designated home team.
“We’ll all be looking forward to that game,” Kaneda said. “We have many focuses going into it. The things that we couldn’t do today, we want to practice on that come Thursday.”
