Ashley Gogolin breaks her ‘curse’ with goal Saturday

It’s been a special season for the Columbus Eagles. The Women’s Premier Soccer League club continues to break records on and off the pitch in 2018. A revamped roster full of talent continues to yield results for Columbus in its fifth year. One of the players that is making a massive contribution in her first year with the Eagles is midfielder Ashley Gogolin.

Gogolin, a Gahanna, Ohio, native has been an instrumental part of many successful teams throughout her career. Whether it winning district titles in high school, being named the Most Valuable Player for the Wright State Raiders in 2015 or finding her way to the Chicago Red Stars in the National Women’s Soccer League, success follows Gogolin wherever she goes.

She found her way to the Eagles in late March after reaching out to head coach Daniel Seiffert. Gogolin came in for a tryout and was an instant hit among the players and the coaching staff. The midfielder found her way into the lineup during the last preseason friendly and didn’t look back.

While Gogolin has found success throughout her soccer career, one thing has plagued the midfielder for some time is an inability to score goals. In fact, she hasn’t found the score sheet in six years.

“I always joke that I’m cursed,” said Gogolin.

That all changed on Saturday. With Columbus welcoming the worst defense in the WPSL Valley Division to Otterbein University, the odds favored the team to score some goals. Columbus did just that, putting four in the net against Empire United. One of those finishes came from the “cursed” Gogolin.

The opportunity presented itself in the 47th minute. Eagles defender Adison Preston earned a corner kick after her attacking run was broken up by an Empire defender. Midfielder Kelly DeNiro stepped to the corner flag to execute the set piece opportunity. Her in-swinging ball found Gogolin, who wasted no time in finishing the chance. She easily found the back of the net with a header and the “curse” was broken.

“We’ve been putting corner kicks in the right spot every time but we haven’t found the ability to get onto them yet,” Gogolin said. “I knew it was coming in and it went right over Rachel (MacLeod)’s head and I was just praying that she would leave it and Kelly delivered a perfect ball and I was just hoping to finish it.”

Although her finish looked confident, Gogolin gave herself a pep talk as the sequence played out.

“I was looking at the ball thinking ‘Do not mess this up.’”

The goal increased the confidence of the midfielder. Gogolin doesn’t believe she will compete for the WPSL Golden Boot this season, but should Columbus continue to get contributions on the score sheet from the former Red Star, it wouldn’t hurt the Eagles’ post season aspirations.