Ian Scholl
Saturday afternoon’s season opener for the Columbus East boys soccer team was a classic tale of two halves.
Although they were outshot in the first half, the Olympians scored a pair of goals in the first 40 minutes and led 2-0 at the break. But Roncalli controlled the second half and netted a pair itself to forge a 2-2 tie at BCSC Soccer Complex.
While the Olympians, who were rained out of their scheduled opener against Perry Meridian a week earlier, were playing their first game, Roncalli (1-1-1) was playing its third contest of the season.
“I think it really showed that they’ve already had three games on the season, and this was our first time out,” East coach Josh Gonsior said. “They’ve had an opportunity to get a little rhythm going with their team and know how to play that full 80 minutes, and we kind of ran out of gas there in the second half and ran out of ideas, and we’re going to have to figure that out as we go forward this week and hopefully throughout the season.”
East struck in the 11th minute when Ian Scholl knocked in a cross from Boston Ely. The second goal came from Gui Silva Coelho in the 35th minute.
Gui Silva Coelho
The Olympians scored only 12 goals in 16 games last season, and players who scored all but four of those goals graduated or are no longer with the team.
“I’m happy we put two in the net,” Gonsior said. “One of our struggles last year was putting the ball in the goal, and finally taking those opportunities and actually seeing it go in the net I think is going to go a long way for the season.”
Roncalli got on the board with a goal from Isaac Gamez in the 47th minute and tied it on another goal from Gamez in the 72nd minute.
Roncalli outshot East 17-11, putting 10 shots on goal to seven for the Olympians. East’s August Comer recorded eight saves.
“We were offensively clicking pretty early, and that’s always good to see,” Gonsior said. “I think as we kind of dealt with fitness there, we’ll build on that and see those errors we made in that game and learn how to combat that.”
