Cougar Soccer Wins Opening Game

The Columbia boys soccer team may have had trouble beating mother nature on Monday afternoon at Meadowlands Park, but they had no problems with the visiting Wallington Panthers. The Cougars scored three first half goals and held on for the quick 3-0 win, as the game was called early in the second half due to lightning.

The Panthers entered the contest as the defending North I Group 1 state sectional champs, and with a host returning players set to defend their title, including Tomek Kwiatkowski who scored 49 goals last season and Konrad Plewa, who assisted 41 times.

Apparently the Cougars didn't care who the Panthers were or who they had returning, because Columbia put this game away early and easily.

"I'm very delighted about the win because they are highly ranked and they're very good," said Columbia head coach Gene Chyzowych.

Early in the opening half Kai Greene dropped a cross into the box, where both Luke Horowitz and Max Nichols were waiting undefended in front of Wallington's keeper. Horowitz's attempt was knocked aside by David Podlesiccki, but Nichols was waiting for the rebound, which he put home.

In the 25^th minute, Horowitz scored the first of his two goals, when Greene tapped a pass to him inside the box, where he was able to beat the keeper easily. With under 14 minutes to play in the opening half, Horowitz received a nice feed from Jeremy Witherspoon, who had beaten his man on a run down the field. Running a two on one break, Jeremy got a step on the defense, sent a pass across the box to a wide-open Horowitz, who finished off the scoring chance with a score to the right of the keeper.

"I was very pleased with Horowitz. Luke is coming on, he played sensational. When he puts a show on, he's tough to stop," Chyzowych said. "He's very good with the ball, he has excellent thinking ability, he moves off of the ball very nicely and works together with Jeremy perfectly."

The squads played about 10 minutes of the second half under darkening skies, before lighting and thunder were clearly visible and audible from the field. The officials first delayed the game, which meant that the game could not start for another half an hour after the last visible lighting bolt. Each time a bolt was seen, the 30 minute clock would be reset. With rain looking imminent, and the Cougars up by three goals, Wallington's coach decided to call the game.

Columbia dominated this game in all thirds of the field, and their keeper barely broke a sweat, facing just five shots in the game, with neither of them even close to scoring. He made three routine saves.

The midfield and the back line was what really controlled the game for Columbia, with the Cougars winning virtually every 50/50 ball and the defense clearing out anything that came into the Cougars' third of the field. As a result, the Cougar forwards were constantly on the attack.

"I asked them to play both man-to-man and zone for this team. They know how to overlap," Chyzowych said. "They know how to come around and surprise you and stand in the position where you're supposed to be in. …I told them to forget about your man, and stay in your position."

Before the contest, Bill Burks, a former Cougar soccer star, member of the CHS hall of fame, and 1974 graduate, was honored in a memorial. Burk passed away this summer, and with his family and friends present at today's game, his jersey No. 9 was displayed in a glass case, while his family was given a plaque to commemorate his accomplishments.

The Cougars are in action again on Wednesday in West Orange at 4 p.m.