The East Cougars tied with the Lenape Indians 1-1 at the home game on Thursday, October 22, at the Decou Fields in Cherry Hill. Although we had many close shots to scoring, Robert Awaida (‘21) was able to bring in our single goal with Adam Blumenthal (‘23) assisting.

The entirety of the first half of the game was filled with an extensive amount of back and forth play. Rei O’Brien (‘21) managed to steal the ball from the Lenape Indians a number of times, and Jakub Samelko (‘23) displayed impressive footwork and skills throughout, preventing the Indians from being able to steal the ball easily.

Even though no goals were made in the first half on both teams, the Cougars came close to scoring numerous times. The ball was either always a little off or blocked by Lenape’s goalie, Justin Gibson (‘21). The team stayed energized the whole time despite the intense game play and the number of missed goals, and goalie Matt Mueller (‘21) continued to make save after impressive save.

The second half started off in a fairly good direction. Two solid attempts to score were made, but those were blocked by Gibson as well. Hugo Campoverde (‘21) also had his moments in midfield, blocking and stealing successfully from any Lenape player that got in his way. After those initial shots, the game seemed to take on an image that was very similar to what had already happened in the first half, with the constant push and pull of which team was about to score. The Cougars showed amazing teamwork as they dribbled the ball from one end of the field to the other countless times, and they continued to power through all the missed shots and stolen chances.

The Cougars’ perseverance paid off when Robert Awaida scored with 18 minutes left of the second half, with assistance from Adam Blumenthal. Spirits were restored and smiles graced faces. This energy carried them through the remainder of the second half, but it started to crumble a little when they were continuously unsuccessful with their goals and Samelko got a yellow. The atmosphere of the fields did a 180 when Lenape was able to score with only a minute left.

Overtime brought forth yet another 20 minutes of intense back and forth play. One player who really shone, especially in the first half of overtime, was Jordan Grossman (‘21). Grossman had two solid slide tackles, both of them being successful and rather impressive, earning him some cheers and applause from the audience. The senior soccer player also managed to steal the ball right before the Indians could make a move to shoot, passing it to teammates further infield and steering points away from the opponents. Sadly, overtime also finished without either team scoring, leaving the final score to be 1-1.

While the East Cougars are a bit bummed about the fact that they weren’t able to pull at least one more point during overtime, they still have their chances to come. With such great players and skills on the field, it’s safe to say that we can look forward to a successful season.