On fire
Following Monday’s win, Columbus Catholic soccer remains undefeated
By Paul Lecker
Sports Reporter
MARSHFIELD — The Marshfield Columbus Catholic soccer team could not have asked for a better start to its season.
Following a hard-fought 2-1 win over defending conference champion McDonell/Regis on Monday at Carson Park in Chippewa Falls, the Dons are 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the Mid-State Soccer Conference.
Columbus Catholic has outscored its opponents 44-4 this season, five of its victories being shutouts.
“We have good senior leadership on defense,” Columbus Catholic coach Jeff Edwards said. “They really call out their marks. Tim Gruenloh and Tyler Fuerlinger have been outstanding so far for us. We’ve been working in some younger players on the outside of the defense to try to learn those positions, and it helps when you have seniors that we have this season.”
In the win over McDonell/Regis, which the Dons tied twice last season, Columbus had to do something it did not have to do so far this year: come from behind.
After McDonell/Regis took a 1-0 lead in the second half, Calvin Brown scored with 10 minutes left, and Nick Malovrh hit the game winner with about five minutes to go. Then the Dons’ defense did the rest.
“It was an exciting game, and to win at their field was special,” Edwards said. “We hadn’t done that in years. We are almost halfway through the conference season, and this was a big win to put us in control of first.”
As was the case last season when the Dons finished 15-2-3 and reached the Division 4 sectional semifinals of the WIAA playoffs, they do not have to rely on any one single player to provide the team with offense.
In addition to Brown and Malovrh, Charles Payant, Nadim Torbey, Alex Giles, Fuerlinger, Evan Dieringer, and Ryan Dieringer have multiple goals this season.
“There has been a lot of variety in goals and assists,” Edwards said. “We don’t have that really outstanding player again. We just have a lot of players that can put it in the net. That makes it really difficult to defend us because anyone can score on any given night.”
The Dons, who play a nonconference match against Mauston on Thursday, will take on three Mid-State Conference opponents next week — Monday at home against Tri-County, Tuesday at Stevens Point Pacelli, and Thursday at home vs. Wisconsin Valley Lutheran.
Paul Lecker is publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com, a contributor to Hub City Times Sports. You can reach him by email at [email protected].
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.