By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – When the soccer aficionado refers to the sport as “the beautiful game,” Asher Arce’s game-winning goal for Bedford North Lawrence should be used as the classic example to prove his point.
Arce was on the finishing end of a gorgeous crossing pass from teammate Noah Childers, a connection that created the go-ahead score midway through the second half as the Stars clipped Barr-Reeve 2-1 on Thursday afternoon.
Locked in a 1-1 deadlock, BNL generated what would ultimately be the deciding shot. Childers cut through defenders and dribbled into open space near the top of the penalty box, then ripped a cross-field pass toward the right wing. Arce, at full throttle, won the race to the ball and drilled a quick shot past Barr-Reeve goalie Chase Kavanaugh into the left corner of the net with 20:03 remaining.
“I saw the open space, where I started running to it,” Arce said. “I knew I could get to it, but it was a great ball from Noah. I give him all the credit on that. He got that ball to me, all I had to do was hit the shot. If anything, it wasn’t me. I got the goal, but it was the defense locking up, midfield was going good, and the wingers were making runs. It was all of us.”
Actually, while the BNL family recorded the win, the Arce family had major plays. Saeban Arce posted the first goal for the Stars, winning a frantic footrace to a long-range pass and blasting a shot into the left corner with 10:20 left in the first half. Both Arce brothers logged their first varsity goals.
“Both goals, really the whole game, came down to effort,” BNL coach Ryan Otis said. “Both goals were hustle goals. That’s one you might have thought Asher couldn’t get, but he hustled and put it in.”
The Vikings (1-2) controlled the early action and kept BNL goalie Owen Williams occupied with good looks after winning possession in the midfield. They finally broke through in the second half when Landon Gallagher cracked a high shot that Williams deflected but could not stop with 34:49 left.
”Barr-Reeve moves very well,” Otis said. “Every time they pass, they move, and that was giving us problems. It felt like we were outnumbered because they were moving better than we were. In the second half, we had better communication to stick with it and not let those balls get past us.
”We had to keep our energy. In the first half, we were almost trying to play too fast. We needed to slow down a little bit, find feet, but still keep that same energy. That was really good.”
Barr-Reeve finished with an 8-5 advantage in shots.
The Stars (2-3) will return to action on Sept. 4, hosting New Albany.
