CHS Girls Soccer Makes States for First Time in 12 Years

The first stage of the Columbia girls' turnaround season is complete. With their sixth victory of the season, behind a natural hat trick from junior forward Olivia Mangan and a suffocating defensive effort, the Cougar girls soccer team defeated East Side, 8-0, to qualify for the state playoffs for the first time in 12 years.

Earlier Thursday afternoon at Meadowland Park, the visiting East Side girls were completely overwhelmed by the new-look Columbia girls. East Side did not even attempt a shot on goal and barely possessed the ball throughout the contest.

“We’re a team built on defense. That’s the seventh game that we haven’t conceded a goal,” said first-year Columbia head coach Stephen Jones. “We pride ourselves on not giving up goals.”

Aside from Columbia’s swarming defense, Mangan was the star of the day for the Cougars. She scored the first of her three goals near the 27th minute. She took a great lob pass from Margot Kleinberg and blew past her defender for the breakaway goal.

She struck again with about 10 minutes to go in the opening half, winning a loose ball in the box and blasting it into the net from point-blank range. Five minutes later, her hat trick was complete after she sent a bullet flying off the tips of the East Side goalie’s fingers.

The Lady Cougars pressured the East Side offense relentlessly, racking up 37 shots on goal and countless minutes of possession.

“We finished quite well today,” Jones said.

Columbia began putting the game away very early. With a bit more than 30 minutes to play in the opening half, Megan Matthews got Columbia on the board when she deflected a shot in from fellow senior Brooke Norman.

Less than five minutes later, Olivia Sohr put Columbia up 2-0 on a beautiful laser that caught the top-right corner of the net from 15 yards out. She took the pass from Norman, and the East Side goalie had absolutely no chance at the save.

With the girls up 5-0 at the half, it was clear that the game was over, but the Cougars were still not done scoring, as multiple opportunities presented themselves.

Columbia’s starting goalie, Amy French, got into the action early in the second half, picking up a loose ball in the box and tapping it home.

Perhaps the highlight goal of the game came off of the head of Norman, who took a lob from Mangan and sent a flying header into the net. Matthews added the final goal of the contest on a penalty kick late in the game.

For the Cougars, it is the seventh shutout victory of the year, and they haven't allowed a goal since Sept. 29.

“We have a defensive system that the girls have all bought into,” Jones said. “The girls have worked very hard. We had a grueling summer. They trained three times a week since July.”

Sitting at 6-1-2, the girls have eclipsed their win total from the last two seasons combined and look to be a formidable opponent for anyone they meet in the state tournament. Jones said the focus is just to continue preventing teams from scoring.

“They can play better. They’re playing better than I expected them to, but they can play better,” Jones said of his team.

The Cougars are in action again on Wednesday at home, where they will face the always difficult Montclair Kimberley Academy girls.