Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Columbus East’s Cadence Zeser and Hauser’s Kennedy Konradi battle for the ball during a match Thursday at BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus.
Wins haven’t come freely for Columbus East and Hauser this girls soccer season, so when the two teams got together on the pitch Wednesday night, at least one team was certain to walk away happy.
As it turned out, both teams came away with positives from the Olympians’ 2-0 victory at the BCSC Soccer Complex. East posted its second win of the season, while the Jets were encouraged by the way they played after giving up two early goals.
“It’s a great confidence builder for the team, and it’s great to get a win anytime,” East coach Ilya Schwartzman said. “That was huge.”
The Olympians (2-8-1) scored both of their goals in the first 18 minutes. Cadence Zeser finished off an assist from Morgan Scott in the third minute, and the same duo connected again in the 18th minute.
“The first 20 minutes is definitely the best we’ve done all season,” Scott said. “I think the big thing is coming out super strong at the start. We’re always say, ‘The first five (minutes), come out the strongest.’”
After that first 20 minutes, Hauser (0-9-4) began gaining possession at times and working their way toward the goal a few times.
“I thought the first 20 minutes, we played very good soccer,” Schwartzman said. “Then we kind of backed off and started going back to some of the things that we’ve been trying to work on and correct, so we made it really hard on ourselves. We still had a ton of opportunities that didn’t get capitalized. But hopefully, we’re learning from each opportunity, and hopefully, we will continue to.”
The Jets had a couple opportunities to get on the board late, but Brylee Dalton missed just wide left on a breakaway in the 67th minute, and East’s Cara Veach stopped a shot by Kylee Wallace in the 70th minute.
“I am very proud of my team right now,” Hauser coach Kristy Madden said. “I think they did a great job of keeping their space and keeping their positioning. I also think that the second half, we went out there and stayed aggressive the entire time. We remained positive and focused on the game. I think this is one of the best games that we’ve played, so I’m happy.”
The Olympians finished with a 19-5 shot advantage, putting 10 shots on goal to three for the Jets. Emma Christie recorded two first-half saves for East, and Veach made the one second-half save. Haylin Campbell posted eight saves for Hauser.
“It’s definitely very exciting,” Zeser said. “It’s very frustrating to take a bunch of shots and not make them, but it’s good that we worked together as a team and made a bunch of good passes to get there.”
East was playing its sixth game in 10 days.
“It’s definitely hard, but recovery is important, and mental is really important,” Scott said. “It’s the mentality you bring to the field every day.”
“We’re definitely tired, but we are pushing as a team, and we’re doing really good and I’m proud of us,” Zeser added. “A lot of our girls are injured, but we keep pushing, that’s for sure. We keep running off whatever else we have.”
The Olympians return to action on Saturday at New Albany. The Jets will look for their first win when they host Austin on Tuesday.
“At the beginning of the year, we talked about goals for our year, and our two goals were to remain positive and to always give our best effort,” Madden said. “I know not always the score reflects that, but I do think that we have reached our two goals of remaining positive and trying our best effort.”
