Crawfordsville girls soccer has a reason to be excited. This season the Athenians have been in every game they’ve played this season excluding a season opening loss to Faith Christian. The hard work and culture shift that’s been set by coach Alex Ehrlich paid off once again for CHS on Monday as they hosted Lafayette Central Catholic and defeated the Knights 1-0.
The 1-0 victory for CHS was their third win as their record improves to 3-4-2 on the season. The three wins is tied for the most by CHS since the 2017 season.
While Central Catholic isn’t the state powerhouse like they have been the last few seasons (2020 1A state champions), Ehrlich still was thrilled for his team after beating a team like the Knights.
“I’m at a little loss for words for how well we played tonight,” Ehrlich said. “We switched up our formation a little bit and our girls continued to roll with everything. We controlled more of the game than what I was expecting am I obviously thrilled with the outcome.”
After battling for to a scoreless tie in the first-half, the second half would see more of the same between the Knights and Athenians. However with around 14 minutes left in the game, sophomore Riley Gardner broke the scoreless tie with a shot into the left corner that was just out of reach of the Knights goalie. That one goal proved to be the difference as the Athenians held on.
Ehrlich has begun to shift the perception and overall culture of the Athenians. For the longest time, Crawfordsville has seen little to no success on the pitch. Not only is that changing this season, but even in the losses, Ehrlich’s girls are beginning to have fun and enjoy the sport.
“We are trying our best to encourage positivity with this program,” Ehrlich said. “I’ve started to really see our attitudes change this season. Everyone is high-fiving girls when they come off the field, we’re all up standing the last 10 minutes cheering our team on. It’s really cool to see this with our team and I’m thrilled with how we’re staying competitive.”
