A young and inexperienced Columbus East girls soccer team is hoping for a brighter future, but is taking its lumps in the present.
The Olympians endured their second consecutive loss to begin the season on Wednesday, falling 5-0 to Bloomington North.
“We have a lot of work to do,” veteran East coach Ilya Schwartzman said. “But hopefully, they’ll continue to stay positive and support each other and just keep learning and keep getting better.”
The game may have been a little closer than the final score indicated. The Cougars led 3-0 before scoring twice in the final four minutes.
The teams were scoreless late in the first half until Bloomington North’s Camilla Ensign headed in a corner kick in the 39th minute. The Cougars led 1-0 at the break.
Bloomington North added goals from Daphne Wright in the 46th minute and Elizabeth Garrow in the 58th minute. The final two goals came from Caroline Farmer in the 77th minute and from Wright with just 10 seconds remaining in the match.
“We have a long way to go to play better as a team,” Schwartzman said. “The first half was certainly better, but even the first half, we struggled in connecting and getting anything offensively. Defensively, we held them until the last minute. It was a bit disappointing to give up the goal with a minute left in the half, but we played hard.
“The second half, we played hard, just not very effective,” he added. “Hats’ off to Bloomington North. They played better.”
The Cougars outshot the Olympians 17-1, putting 12 shots on goal to one for East. Emma Christie played the first half in goal and recorded one save before playing in the field the second half. Natasha Armstrong, who played in the field the first half, played in goal the second half and posted four saves.
The Olympians had opened the season with a 3-1 loss at Franklin on Monday.
“We didn’t play as well as we are capable on Monday, and this was a letdown,” Schwartzman said. “I’m not sure what was going on. It wasn’t just one player. It was everybody.”
