Mt. Pleasant takes 2 from Wildcats

MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant soccer teams were stifling on defense on Monday night, as the Panthers recorded the rare double shut out against Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union in a doubleheader at East Lake Park on Monday.

The Panther girls ran away from the Wildcats 7-0 in the opener. Mt. Pleasant’s boys followed with a 3-0 victory in Game 2.

Mt. Pleasant scored two goals in a back-and-forth first half during the girls game. The first goal came off the foot of Charise Auwerda with 31:06 left in the first half.

Just one minute after nailing the crossbar with a shot attempt, Auwerda sneaked one in past Columbus/WMU keeper Alynna Leos off a crossing pass from Tori Wilson.

“Tori had so many assists in that game,” said Auwerda after the win. “She was putting it on a silver platter for me.”

The Panthers made it 2-0 with 20:12 left on the clock when Hailey Parrott scored her first goal of the season. It stayed that way until 36:24 remained in the second half, as Parrott once again found the net to make it a two-score night.

Elly Manning, who had all three goals in Mt. Pleasant’s previous game, scored her only goal of the night with 30:54 left. Aurora Hummel put one in with 18:40 on the clock, and Auwerda scored two goals within 35 seconds of each other just six minutes before the final buzzer.

“After a tight match last year, we were able to get our feet underneath us,” said Mt. Pleasant girls coach Scott Stribe. “It was good to see so many people get in the stat line with goals and assists.”

Auwerda added one assist to her three-goal night. Parrott finished with two goals and an assist. Wilson would finish the night with three assists, and Eli Heaton made three saves in a shut out in net.

The Panther boys, which won just one game all of last season and hadn’t even scored on Columbus/WMU since 2019, showed signs of turning the page with a shut out victory in head coach Rocco Russo’s first game leading the team.

Through one half of the game, that last statement rang true. Columbus didn’t allow a Panther goal in the first half, but the Panthers got it going in the second.

Sophomore Jonah Zimmer scored his first goal off a cross less than two minutes in the second half. That was the only goal until the under six minutes left in the game.

Down 1-0, Columbus had a couple chances to tie the game. Oscar Alcala sprung loose a few times, even sending one potential equalizer just over the crossbar, but the Wildcats could never put one in.

Mt. Pleasant finally got some separation in the final minutes. Kolbein Otsby scored on a penalty kick with 5:49 remaining, and Zimmer scored his second goal of the night with 1:30 remaining.

“They were antsy, and they were excited to play somebody other than their teammates,” said Russo. “We did really well, and it feels nice to get a 'W' on the board.”

The Panther boys earned assists from Moroni Sanchez and Dylan White.

Russo says he was happy with how his team played, but saw plenty of things to improve on. The Panthers started six freshmen, and Russo says he could see the Wildcats’ experience pay off.

“Columbus was tough,” Russo said. “They knew how to play. Their soccer IQ was very high, and you could tell they were a little older than us.”

Mt. Pleasant is now 2-0 in girls soccer and 1-0 in boys soccer. The Panthers will play Washington on Thursday with the boys hosting and the girls playing on the road.

Columbus fell to 1-2 on the girls’ side and 0-3 in boys action. The Wildcats have a doubleheader at Tipton on Tuesday.