West Bladen’s Eddie Lebra (right) gets back in position on defense.
BLADENBORO — The Union Spartans defeated the West Bladen Knights 3-2 on Tuesday in a non-conference clash.
Union opened the scoring in 35 minutes in. The Knights turned the ball over on the ensuing kickoff and Union countered for a clean look on goal but went without luck.
The Knights were pinned back in their half as the Union attack were sending constant waves toward their goal. West Bladen keeper Cade Allen made some crucial saves to deny the visitors from extending their lead and kept hope alive for his team. The Knights attempted to test the keeper from distance with an Aiden Ross shot from 30 yards out but the attempt went well wide of the mark.
West Bladen grew into the game after 15 minutes played and were manufacturing attacks towards their opponents goal as the game became more open. Sophomore winger Kevin Sebastion received a through ball to put him on goal but an extra touch allowed a Union defender to step in front of his shot. The Knights got their best look on goal a few moments later when the corner kick connected with the head of Darwin Garcia but the shot glanced over the bar.
Union responded a couple minutes later with a shot from in close but the driven shot was parried away with a solid right hand from Allen. The Knights turned the deflected shot into a quick counter-attack down the field but their opponents defense stayed solid in the back. Union extended their lead in the 20th minute with an easy tap-in after individual brilliance from their winger to drag defenders out of position to set up the simple pass to the back post.
It took the Knights five minutes to respond with a goal of their own when senior midfielder Eddie Labra shot took an awkward deflection to make the score 2-1. The visitors had two great chances a few moments later but went without luck. West Bladen had a chance to equalize with an open chance in front of goal but whiffed on the effort to keep the Spartans in the lead.
The Spartans finished the last five minutes of the first half with an onslaught of shots towards their opponents goal. West Bladen defended frantically to deny their opponents and were able to get out of the first half down by just a goal. The host started the second half with some early chances but failed to turn promising attacks into goals and the Spartans took advantage with a goal in the 29th minute to make the game 3-1.
The Knights made a change at keeper in the 27th minute and brought on senior keeper Oswaldo Gonzalez-Lopez to close out the game. Gonzalez-Lopez would make a clutch save from point-blank range just a few moments later to keep the match at 3-1. West Bladen almost slashed their opponents lead with a Jonah Bryan half-volley that clattered off the goal post and out for a goal kick.
The Spartans started to sit back in their own half and invited pressure from their opponents in order to hit them on counter-attacks. West Bladen made changes to their backline halfway through the second half and their pace in the back shutdown balls over the top.
West Bladen’s attack kept the pressure on in the last 12 minutes of the second half and almost forced a mistake out of their opponents defense but they couldn’t capitalize. The Knights finally caught a break in the seventh minute after Bryan was pushed in the back to force a penalty. Alejandro Lopez Sandoval stepped up to the spot and slotted the penalty in the right corner to bring the Knights within one goal from equalizing.
Gonzalez-Lopez came in clutch for his team once more with an acrobatic save to keep hope alive for the Knights down the stretch. West Bladen senior defender Walker Barkley slapped an ambitious shot from 40 yards out that clipped the top of the crossbar with two minutes remaining in the second half. The Knights thought they found their equalizer with 11 seconds remaining but a collision with the Spartans keeper was deemed a foul by the referee to deny the host their last chance at goal.
West Bladen now move to 1-5 on the season and they will take on East Columbus on Thursday for a non-conference match-up.