The scoreboard doesn’t show it, but the Crawfordsville girls soccer team has made improvements from last season.
Tuesday the Athenians hosted Faith Christian in their season opener as Alex Ehrlich made his coaching debut for Crawfordsville. Ultimately the Eagles used a strong second half, scoring four of their five goals to put the Athenians away and come away with a 5-0 win.
In the first half however, Crawfordsville’s defense had a strong showing. The lone goal for the Eagles came on a Ella Bolton penalty kick. Despite the constant offensive attack by the Eagles, the Athenians held their own which was a very encouraging sign for Ehrlich.
“In the past we’ve had a tendency to play as individuals out there, but now we’re starting to play as a team and I am thrilled with how we’re coming together,” he said. “There are times where we have fallen apart, but we’ve come back together as a team and that’s what’s gotten us by. If we can continue to that moving forward I think we’ll be in good shape come the end of the season.”
As is the usual for the start of most sports competing in their first game, conditioning for the Athenians (0-1) is a one of the reasons according to Ehrlich on why the Eagles (2-0) were able to put up four goals in the second half.
“I was expecting us to have some fatigue but not to the extent that we showed,” he said. “We have some work to do in that area for sure.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Zoey Corbin was one of the main catalysts for Crawfordsville in the first half. Despite giving up five total goals, there a few that were described as “freak goals” by Ehrlich. The third goal of the game for the Eagles came off of a high bounce which was just out of the reach of Corbin and snuck into the upper part of the goal.
“Zoey worked her tail off in the first half and is playing well, we just need her to learn how to compete for the entire game, but she’s making big strides. Also Hannia (Hernandez) is the heart and soul of our team. Both of them I’m thrilled with where they’re at right now.”
Ehrlich also took time to praise Faith Christian for the culture and way they’ve built their soccer program over the years.
“They’ve played together for a long time and have a soccer culture that we don’t have yet,” he said. “Being able to compete against a team like allows us to see what we need to work on and shows us what kind of team we can be.”
The Athenians were originally scheduled to travel to Delphi on Thursday, but that match has been canceled. Crawfordsville will return to the pitch on Monday as they will travel to Greencas
