Columbus North’s Christian Cardoso, left, wins a header over Center Grove’s Keaton Barnhizer during a regional semifinal soccer match at the BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
In its two regional victories, Columbus North was able to beat teams that it had tied during the boys soccer regular season.
This afternoon, the Bull Dogs will have a chance to avenge one of their three losses this year. Class 3A No. 10 North will play 3A No. 11 Cathedral in the Columbus East Semistate at 3:30 p.m. the BCSC Soccer Complex.
“I’m very excited,” senior midfielder Christian Cardoso said. “I’m hoping to see fans come out, and we can get the job done.”
Not only will the matchup be a rematch of a regular-season contest, it will be a rematch of last year’s semistate. The Bull Dogs edged the Irish 2-1 on their way to the state title game.
“Last year, going all the way to state, loads of emotion and ups and downs throughout our state run, and one of the ups was winning semistate,” senior forward Aidan Whitley said. “We have a lot of returners on the team who remember that feeling when we won, and I don’t see why we wouldn’t want to feel that again.”
A 2-1 loss at Cathedral on Aug. 31 left a sour taste with North (14-3-3). The Irish (16-4-2) were awarded and converted a penalty kick in the opening seconds of the game.
“When a penalty is given in the first 15 seconds of a competition, it makes it exceptionally difficult for the team because they’re chasing the match,” North coach Andy Glover said. “If I disregard the penalty, the game could have been a tie or 2-1 either way. It was in their patch, so it’s a little more difficult when you’re on the road.”
Cathedral is led by the 1-2 punch of junior forward Cal Kurzawa (27 goals, 20 assists) and senior forward Flynn Lahrsen (24 goals, 10 assists). Senior midfielder Ian Jackson (12 goals and 13 assists) played at North as a freshman before moving to Indianapolis and playing with an Academy team the past two years. This is his first year playing for the Irish.
“They have three guys that attack, and that allows them to keep a pretty good defense structure behind them,” Glover said. “They also play a lot more direct than we do, so when I say it’s going to be a contrasting match, I still feel that way. It will be interesting to see, but the boys have watched (tape), and they’re prepared.”
Cathedral junior goalkeeper Jett Wallemeier has a 1.17 goals-against average.
“They play their own style, and they play it to a very high level,” Whitley said. “They have multiple attacking talents up top that can score goals and a very strong backline. They don’t exactly connect the two seamlessly. It’s more of a rough bridge between the two, but it gets the ball up to their attackers, and they score goals and they win games. They’re a very well-rounded team.”
Columbus North’s Aidan Whitley, right, and Center Grove’s Matheus Gubert go up for a header during a regional semifinal soccer match at the BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
So are the Bull Dogs. Whitley leads the team with 13 goals and 12 assists, while Cardoso adds 12 goals and four assists. Senior forward Nico Gotoh has eight goals and three assists, senior midfielder/forward Misaki Takemoto has seven goals and eight assists and junior forward Madux Tovey adds seven goals.
Most of those players, along with most of a a young defensive unit return from last year’s state runner-up team. Junior Juan Jose Salcedo Calderon is a newcomer in goal.
“It’s a very similar circumstance to where we are,” Glover said. “They graduated some heavy hitters, and we did, too. But they reloaded, as did we. We’re in a very similar cycle. I think the quality of both teams is good to produce a very competitive soccer match.”
Columbus North’s Misaki Takemoto, left, and Nico Gotoh, celebrate after Gotoh’s goal during a regional semifinal soccer match against Center Grove at the BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
North is hoping to cash in on the experience it gained in last year’s run to the state title game.
“I think last year, we can use as a tool,” Gotoh said. “We know what we need to do to beat Cathedral. We’ve already gone this far. We have to go all the way at this point. We can’t just back down.”
“I think it’s going to give us a big motivation,” Cardoso added. “Last year, (we had) a bunch of seniors that gave it their all, and we had a bunch of juniors returning, and now we’re seniors. We’re trying to get the job done for everyone that’s played here that didn’t get a title. If we come out and have execution, then we’ll be just fine.”
While last year’s semistate was at Seymour, this will be the first year Columbus has hosted a semistate. The Bloomington South and Cathedral girls will play at 1 p.m., and the Evansville Mater Dei and Park Tudor girls will play a Class A semistate match at around 6 p.m.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” Whitley said. “Too bad, it’s not under the lights, though. I wish it were.”
