Weather delays, Union Grove not enough to slow Columbus

There was rain, and plenty of it on Wednesday at the Walden Soccer Complex. Puddles of water gathered on either side of the playing surface around 6 p.m., the scheduled start time of the Columbus girls’ first-round showdown with Union Grove.

There was lightning, and often. The game didn’t start until 7:30 p.m., an hour and a half after it was supposed to start, because of lightning delays. And after squeezing in a half of play, the dangerous conditions returned, forcing another stoppage for nearly two full hours until the second half got started at 10 p.m.

But when the game finally ended at 10:42 p.m., four hours and 42 minutes after it was scheduled to begin, the Lady Blue Devils were still alive.

Columbus defeated Union Grove 1-0 to open play in the Class 5A state tournament, advancing to the second round where it will host Alexander next Wednesday.

Despite being the 1 seed facing a 4 seed, Columbus knew Wednesday wouldn’t be a walk in the park. Even before the weather came in, coach Rusty Oliver expected Union Grove to pose problems for his team.

“I was worried about this game as soon as we saw the brackets,” he said. “We definitely weren’t looking past it. We practiced like it was the championship game, like it was our last game.”

Because it could have been. Union Grove finished fourth in a region that consists of numerous state championship contenders. Starr’s Mill won Region 4 and is ranked No. 1 in the state, McIntosh finished second and is ranked No. 2 and Northgate finished third and is ranked No. 6. Union Grove doesn’t fall in the top 10, but did enter with an 11-4-1 record on the season.

They were fast, dropping back and keeping the numbers on every Columbus attack.

“Even their forwards do a good job defending,” Oliver said, adding that he knew the game would be close. “I felt like one goal may have been the difference in this one.”

It was.

Savannah Bridges got the goal with 4:45 remaining in the first half. After a corner kick was sent into the box near the goal and booted around by a couple of players, the ball shot out of the scrum right to Bridges, who sent it into the right corner of the net.

The goal gave Columbus a 1-0 lead going into the half, and neither team could muster much more of an attack.

Oliver said his team’s experience showed in its ability to withstand the weather delays, something they have experienced in the past, and that despite making some mistakes played fairly clean.

“I thought we did a lot of good,” he said. “We’re still making mistakes that we can’t make if we want to get as deep as we think we can.”

The next challenge is Alexander, which enters next week 11-5-1. No team Columbus faces for the rest of the year, though, will be daunting. The Lady Blue Devils have played one of the toughest schedules in the state. It has led to a higher volume of losses but also a lot of experience.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 11:50 PM with the headline "Weather delays, Union Grove not enough to slow Columbus."