Columbus blanked by Starr’s Mill in Class 5A first round

In a game it felt like it was supposed to win, the Columbus boys soccer team gave up a goal less than four minutes into the contest.

It was enough.

The Blue Devils gave up one more late in the game, but the first proved to be difference as they lost 2-0 to Starr’s Mill on Tuesday in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs at the Walden Soccer Complex. The loss ended Columbus’ season short of its own expectations, as it had entered the postseason with a 12-3 record and a No. 1 seed as a result of winning Region 1.

“There were some nerves, I think,” coach Reyvid Torres said after the game. “Knowing we were a 1 seed, maybe we didn’t prepare them well enough for the pressure. We have a young team, and maybe we just weren’t ready for the pressure of having that target on our back.”

Often, a first-round matchup for a 1 seed is just a warmup for the competition to come. When you play a team out of the heralded Region 4, though, there is no free game. Starr’s Mill entered the contest 9-9 but has a storied history in soccer. It plays in a region with No. 1 McIntosh, No. 4 Northgate and No. 7 Union Grove, each of which have legitimate shots at advancing to the final four and beyond.

Tuesday was already going to be a tall task for the Blue Devils, and they got behind early.

Panthers freshman Jonathan Ulversoy knocked one past Columbus keeper Noah Wallace in the fourth minute of the contest to put Starr’s Mill ahead 1-0. Columbus had an occasional look at the other end in the first half, but for the most part was on the defensive.

Still, Torres didn’t feel like that forced Columbus to change its game plan much.

“We know we have a team that is capable of getting some goals, and we haven’t allowed many,” he said. “We’ve had to come from behind at times, so it wasn’t a big factor. Even at 2-0, we felt like we still had a shot.”

Finally, late in the half, the Blue Devils began to see some movement in their offensive pressure. They had two straight corner kicks around the 10-minute mark that showed promise, but both came up empty.

Nolan Bidleman had a clean look at the lower left corner of the goal around nine minutes left in the half, but it was tipped out of bounds by the Starr’s Mill keeper. The corner kick that followed was fruitless again, and cleared by the Panthers.

Columbus went into the half down 1-0 and found itself in a tough situation early in the second when it couldn’t clear the ball from its end of the field. Wallace had five straight saves over a period of a minute and 25 seconds after each one resulted in another corner kick for Starr’s Mill. Finally, Wallace snagged the ball and cleared it.

About six minutes later, though, Starr’s Mill’s Sam Pompeo was assisted by Sammy Shlapack for its second goal, going ahead 2-0 and putting Columbus at the brink.

Columbus never had much of another chance to make a move and fell from the playoffs in the first round. Torres said he still felt like his team played a great game and, more important, a great season.

“They’ve got nothing to be ashamed of,” he said.

Starr’s Mill plays at Clarke Central in the second round of the state playoffs.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Columbus blanked by Starr’s Mill in Class 5A first round."