On Thursday afternoon, the Cougars faced off against their neighbors from across the street Eastern. 

The two teams matched up earlier this season on September 13th, with East defeating Eastern 3-1. East came into the matchup boasting an 11-3-3 record, while Eastern arrived with a 9-8-1 record. 

The match started off slow for both teams. Both sides had a few opportunities for chances but neither side could capitalize on any of those chances. The first true scoring chance for East came towards the end of the first half. After Kevin Garvin (‘25) worked hard to earn a corner kick, Alec Herring (‘23) spun the ball into the box resulting in an Evan Pfeiffenberger header off the crossbar. However, Trey Shaw (‘23) was there for the putaway to put East up 1-0. That would be all East needed.

The Cougar defense was stout all day. Pfeiffenberger, Shaw, Ethan Riley (‘23), and Omar Pollard (‘24), did not allow Eastern to have many quality opportunities. Any chance that Eastern did get was quickly shut down by goalkeeper Thomas Piotrowski (‘24). Piotrowski has been lockdown all season for the Cougars posting seven regular season shutouts, and his first postseason shutout. 

As Eastern began to press forward late in the match, it opened the door for East to counterattack. After the ball was cleared out, Elija Moultrie (‘24) found Alec Herring (‘23)  who spun a left footed shot into the back of the net. This gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead, a lead they would not surrender. 

The Cougars move onto the second round of the Group IV playoffs where they will matchup with Cherokee on Monday.