ELIZABETHTOWN – South Columbus snapped a 1-1 tie with 3 unanswered goals in the second half and went on to defeat East Bladen 4-2 Thursday night in non-conference men’s soccer action.
“South Columbus dominated the set pieces tonight,” said Eagle Coach Jay Raynor. “My hat goes off to them. That’s an area that if you can control at any level you can win games and it did just that for them.”
The Stallions scored on 3 of their 6 corner kicks and on 1 of the 4 East Bladen fouls committed deep in Eagle territory. “Those are extremely impressive numbers,” noted Raynor.
“To start the game I thought we completely controlled the run of play,” stated Coach Raynor. “We put their backline under pressure with scoring chances. However, none found the back of the net and most weren’t even dangerous opportunities. If we were given goals for hitting it right at the keeper then we win the game 20-4. We didn’t test him.”
The Stallions scored in the 11th minute on their first corner kick of the game for the only goal of the first half. “We got into the attacking 1/3 all night long but couldn’t do anything with the ball,” said Raynor. “We either held on to it too long, passed to the other team, or sent in a shot that had no chance at getting in the net. It was frustrating for us.”
Ten minutes into the second half, Eagle junior Caleb Hatchell sent a ball into freshman Jake Evans who crossed the ball into the 6-yard box where junior Brooks McGill finished with a header that tied the game 1-1.
“I honestly felt that was going to be a turning point of the game,” said Coach Raynor. “We had bombarded their net and finally broke through.”
Minutes later the Eagles earned a corner kick and a chance to take the lead, but failed to capitalize. “We used a set piece that is a goal 9 out of 10 times if run correctly, and we didn’t execute….once again we played into the goal keeper,” said Raynor. “If that goes in and the game is 2-1 us, then the entire contest has changed. “
South answered with 3 goals on 3 set pieces in a span of 14 minutes. “We gave up some silly fouls which cost us and did a poor job of marking on those,” said Raynor. “I give it to them, that’s obviously a part of their game they work on and it’s an area that we will now spend more time on everyday. We will make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Sophmore goalie Spencer Scott was credited with 7 saves and even turned away a penalty kick. With 4 minutes left to play freshman Gabe Barber sent a ball up the field that sophmore Greyson Heustess knocked into senior Grey Cabellero who played it into Brooks McGill. McGill fired the ball into the net for his second goal of the game.
“We didn’t lack for effort,” added Coach Raynor. “I thought we gave a lot of that tonight but we lacked unity. Being on the same page and with all pieces is vital to being successful and we didn’t have that. The communication was almost non-existent and that leads to turnovers and soft goals on set pieces.”
“Tonight is not the result we wanted but should be a learning experience,” concluded Raynor. “The positives are that we played pretty solid in the back. Now we gave up those soft set pieces but during the run of play we turned away all their shots and chances. We played with more intensity tonight but in no way shape or form did I think we played as team.”
The Eagles are now 2-1 on the season and will travel to West Columbus Wednesday for a 5 p.m. match.
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