Going into Saturday’s regular season finale, Columbus East already had wrapped up the Hoosier Hills Conference boys soccer title.
But the Class 3A No. 5 Olympians had a little more to play for against HCC foe Jeffersonville. East blanked the Red Devils 2-0 to finish off its first unbeaten regular season in school history.
“It’s a great feeling, honestly,” senior midfielder Eric Stiles said. “Coming from last year being around .500 on the season to this year undefeated, we put a bunch of work in. We earned this.”
The Olympians (13-0-3, 6-0-1), who are ranked No. 15 in the Midwest by USA Today, claimed their first HHC title since winning four in a row from 2012-15.
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“I’m very proud of the boys,” East coach Brad Barber said. “This is a goal they set at the beginning of the program. It’s nice to accomplish that goal and carry that momentum going into sectional.”
Both of the Olympian goals came in the final 5 1/2 minutes of the first half. Stiles got East on the board in the 35th minute when he took a couple dribbles at the top of the box, put a fake on a defender and rocketed a shot into the left corner of the net.
Then in the 38th minute, Logan Cline took a pass from Kevin Sanchez in front of the net and scored to make it 2-0.
“I thought our guys did a really nice job of reading what the defense was giving them,” Barber said. “Each defense is going to defend a certain way, and we are a very intelligent team in being able to break down the space that they provide us, and today, we had space behind. I thought we had a number of chances getting in behind their defense, and we just did a really nice job taking advantage of the space they provided us.”
The Red Devils looked like they might cut the lead in half just before the break. But Ronaldo Lawrence’s shot with 2 seconds left in the half bounced off the crossbar.
Following a scoreless second half, East had its eighth shutouts in the 16 games, giving senior Zach Roberts a school-record 28 shutouts for his career.
“We’ve had a lot of shutouts throughout the season, and it’s good to get another one in the books,” sophomore defender Korbin Hatcher said. “It was just good communication in the back and players knowing what they’re doing. We’re feeling good going into the sectional.”
The Olympians, who play Seymour Tuesday in the first round of the Floyd Central Sectional, would face the winner of the Jeffersonville-New Albany game in Wednesday’s semifinals.
East outshot the Red Devils 21-9, putting 15 shots on goal to four for Jeffersonville. Roberts recorded four saves in 76 minutes, and Pete Coriden did not face a shot over the final four minutes..
“I feel like today wasn’t our best performance, but we’re bringing down the practices, getting our fitness back up, and hopefully, we’ll be ready for Tuesday,” Stiles said.
