By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – In a battle of contrasting offensive styles, a defensive play and a close-call bounce made the difference for Columbus East.
The Olympians converted a midfield turnover into a quick-strike score early in the second half, and dodged disaster when a late blast by Bedford North Lawrence’s Noah Childers cracked off the cross bar, during a tense 1-0 triumph on Tuesday night.
East (3-3-1 overall, 2-0 in the Hoosier Hills Conference) made the most of its best shot as Luis Ceballos scored with 36:09 left, and the Olympians survived two excellent BNL chances in the final six minutes.
While the Stars (3-4, 0-2) worked their short-distance passing game to gain ground in small spurts, East went for the faster pace, lofting long passes over the defense and counting on speed to win the race. The lone goal came when East forced a turnover at midfield and found Ceballos for the quick shot.
“They were giving us the possession, trying to get the ball and create turnovers or quick counters,” BNL coach Ryan Otis said. “That’s how they scored. They made more chances that we luckily turned away.”
“We worked on creating the turnovers and countering,” East coach Sam LaVelle said. “We won a ball in midfield, looked to get to the goal quickly, and it was a nice finish by Luis.
“We saw some things to exploit. They play a high line, and we saw some space behind them on the back line. We tried to take advantage of that.”
BNL finished with eight shots, and the last two were most dangerous. Adriano Sullivan was awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box with six minutes left, but that chance was turned away by East goalie Ryder Meek. Then came the Childers missile, after a long run through the middle of the defense, from 30 yards away that zipped over Meek and clanged hard off the bar.
“That was one we thought would drop right in there,” Otis said.
“They played better than us. We played well, but I wouldn’t say we deserved to win the game. It was competitive.”
East was also tagged with three yellow cards.
The Stars will start a four-game road swing on Thursday, visiting Jennings County.
