Columbine boys soccer off to its best start in a decade

LAKEWOOD — Columbine’s boys soccer team has already surpassed its win total from a year ago, and it’s still September.

“It feels amazing,” Columbine senior captain LJ Melucci said about the eight straight wins to begin the season. “I think we have such a great group of boys and we are such a family. It makes it more fun when we win.”

A 5-2 win over George Washington on Thursday night at Lakewood Memorial Field kept Columbine undefeated with a 8-0 record. The last time the Rebels had a start to the season like this was in 2014. Columbine started with a 8-0-1 record in non-league play 10 years ago.

Columbine didn’t start or end the ideal way against George Washington (3-4-2 record). The Patriots got a goal in the 3rd minute of the game to take an early 1-0 lead and ended the game with another score in the final 10 minutes.

“We are better,” Columbine coach Paul Moline said after the Rebels scored five unanswered goals in between the two scores by George Washington. “You can tell by our kids. They are disappointed too. We have to figure out a way to link training sessions into games. We have done it in a few games, but we didn’t do it this week.”

Columbine did get a quick answer after the opening goal by the Patriots. Junior Jack Dively scored goals from his left forward position in the 4th and 6th minutes to grab a 2-1 lead.

“It was a good response,” Moline said of the Rebels’ back-to-back goals by Dively over the span of two minutes. “The places that we found on the field are what we’ve trained to get to those goals.”

Melucci said Dively’s goals were critical for the Rebels to keep their winning streak alive.

“Getting those two (goals) back was defintely the momentum we needed to win,” Melucci said. “If we didn’t get those two I think this game would have gone way different.”

Melucci and sophomore Justus Buchanan scored before halftime to push the Rebels’ lead to 4-1. Sophomore Adam Seaton put in Columbine’s lone goal in the second half before George Washington junior Graeme Elson scored in the final 10 minutes.

“It is a daily grind,” Moline said of the Rebels’ trying to improve on the pitch each game. “I love these guys. They’ll work hard. We just have to get some things together before we hit Jeffco, because Jeffco is going to be a nightmare.”

Columbine begins Class 5A Jeffco League play next week against rival Chatfield (4-2-1) on Wednesday, Oct. 2, back at Lakewood Memorial Field.

“I like having a little rivalry game right away,” Melucci said of facing Chatfield to open up conference play. “The boys will be super hyped up. We’ll get a big crowd out from our student section. It will be a really good game with a lot of support behind us.”

Moline knows his team can’t get too far ahead of itself as the Rebels being the 5-game league play schedule.

“Our expectations are just to win the next game,” Moline said. “Jeffco is so good and so deep. It is like you are playing in a playoff game every week. That is going to be a challenge for us.”