For The Tribune
COLUMBUS
The Seymour boys’ soccer team out-shot Scottsburg 18-1 in the first half of Monday’s match in the Columbus Sectional at Richard Wigh Soccer Complex before coming away with a 3-0 win to open postseason play.
The Owls continued to pepper the goal in the second half, finishing with 32 shots to four for the Warriors.
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Martin Sebastian found the back of the net with 2:24 remaining in the first half, added a goal at the 1:30 mark of the first half, then recorded a hat trick with 3:04 remaining in the match.
“Pick a cliché,” Owls coach Matt Dennis said. “Either it’s ‘survive and advance,’ or it’s ‘we’re not grading them, we’re just counting them.’ Yes, Martin was a very bright spot tonight. Three goals was awesome. It was good to see some production from him.
“We take 32 shots, and their keeper has 15 saves, and the post has eight saves. We’re going to have to correct that. I cannot believe we hit the post eight times. We’ve got to make sure that we take care of our chances on Wednesday against Madison. We’ve got to make sure we bury the ball in the back of the net.”
Dennis was pleased with Sebastian’s finishing.
“Martin showed tonight that he can do that,” he said. “We’ve got to get the rest of the guys with that mentality in front of the net as well.”
Seymour began attacking early in the match, and a shot by Cole Luedeman five minutes in went over the goal, and a minute later a shot by Daniel Hartman hit the post.
A few minutes later, Korey White had a clear shot to score as the Scottsburg goalkeeper was out of position, but White’s attempt sailed wide right.
That was typical of the way things were going for most of the first half until Sebastian scored.
His goals in the first half were unassisted, while Brantley Adams had an assist on Sebastian’s score in the second half.
Dennis liked the way the Owls’ controlled the ball.
“We were organized,” he said. “The times that they got forward weren’t real threatening. We were able to get numbers behind the ball and stay organized defensively, but I think their lack of shots had way more to do with our out-and-out possessions. We had a lot of the ball.
“Whenever you can keep possession of the ball away from your own net, then you’re not going to give up a lot of shots.”
The Owls had beaten the Warriors 8-0 during the regular season.
Dennis said he didn’t think his team was overlooking the Warriors.
“We controlled every aspect of that game except finishing,” he said. “We actually took more shots against them today than we did during the season.
Owls goalie Elliott Clark had four saves.
Columbus North will face Columbus East at 6 p.m. Wednesday, and the Owls (10-5-2) will face Madison in the second match.
The Owls beat the Cubs 2-1 in a Hoosier Hills Conference match on Sept. 17 on the Cubs’ field.
“It was a bit of a struggle for us to score,” Dennis said. “Again, that match game we had the same problem. We took 30 shots that game, so we need to make sure we put more in the back of the net when we get our opportunities.
“I expect it to be a very hard fought match. They drew some teams that beat us. It’s not a cakewalk when you step into the sectional.”