MANKATO — Teams can get hot at the right time.
Mankato East boys soccer is one of those teams. With a 4-2 win over New Ulm Monday the Cougars have earned a win or tie in their last eight games.
In that stretch East has a 3-1 win over Simley, a 3-1 win over Mankato West, a 1-1 road tie with Austin, a 3-3 tie against Rochester Mayo, a 2-0 road win over Albert Lea and a 2-1 win over Worthington leading up to Monday’s win.
“We’ve been on a heater,” East head coach Jarred Aspelund said. “I don’t know what it is, but they are locked in, dialed in. We haven’t played beautiful games, but we’re finding a way to get it done. And at this point in the season that’s all you need to do.”
East jumped ahead of New Ulm, who arrived at the game field at Kennedy Elementary 10 minutes before gametime, early. A throw-in led to senior Kaden Haslach giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead 3:04 into the game.
A little over five minutes later Haslach netted a free kick and scored once again. East led 2-0 within the game’s first 10 minutes.
“That was big for us,” Aspelund said. “They’re super dangerous. They’re a good team, but we did our homework.”
East (6-4-4) didn’t stop there. It still had to accomplish its team checkpoint of scoring two goals in the second half. And with New Ulm cutting the lead before halftime and getting possession to start the second half another hot start was needed for East.
Once again East pounced early. This time it was senior Luke Lebens striking for a 3-1 lead.
Eagles phenom Jackson OCampo responded for his second goal of the game three minutes later to shrink the Cougars lead to 3-2.
But 7:33 into the second half the Cougars accomplished their team goal. Junior Idris Daees scored East’s second goal of the second half. East led 4-2 and never looked back.
“We had to weather the storm in the first five minutes (of the second half),” Aspelund said. “We typically haven’t done well in the first five minutes of second halves. We actually got a goal, which was just massive for us.”
East hits the road to face Owatonna at 7 p.m. Tuesday.