Boys soccer: Columbia holds off Wellington

COLUMBIA STATION — Every time Columbia thought it got away, Wellington pulled it back in. The Raiders took an early two-goal lead, and while the Dukes cut the deficit to one on three occasions, Columbia ultimately held on for a 4-3 Lorain County League win Thursday evening, pushing its win streak to six games. Columbia (6-1, 4-1 LCL) got off to a quick start with two goals in the first 10 minutes, both coming within a minute of one another. The first was from Jack Washburn, who found himself alone on the left corner of the box and found the right corner of the net. The second came from Haroon Shakib, who finished a point-blank attempt from the middle of the box. "We like to play through me and John (Bodo) and then try to get it up to (Shakib) up top because he's usually our main point man," Washburn said. "He'll pass it around and we'll usually get some shots off." Wellington (2-2, 2-2) decided to switch things up, taking goalkeeper Michael Fox and putting him on Washburn while Andrew Raven took his place in front of the net. The Dukes responded four minutes later with a goal from the left wing by Braedon McCann. "We played a better second half, but we have to play an entire 80 minutes," Wellington coach Will Pabst said. "We started slow and played catch-up the whole time. Jack Washburn is a great player, so once they scored two quick goals, I just made the decision to have Michael Fox man mark Jack. He did a great job alleviating some pressure in the midfield and gave us an opportunity to win the game." Bodo was involved with Columbia's next two goals, first he gave the Raiders a 3-1 lead when he sent a high looping shot from the top of the box just under the crossbar. Then, after Wellington cut the deficit to 3-2 when Baptiste Fontaine got past Joreski for an easy empty net finish, Bodo found Washburn on a corner kick just before halftime to make it 4-2. "Our goal is just to always get up to our point man Haroon," Bodo said. "He holds it until one of us supports him and then he plays it back to us or we'll play it back to him and look for a shot." But the Dukes weren't going anywhere. Wellington was outshot 13-6 in the first half, but outshot Columbia 9-7 in the second. Furthermore, Raven saved all six of Columbia's shots on goal in the second half. Fox scored off a corner kick feed from Reece Leiby in the 59th minute, cutting the deficit to one yet again. But while Wellington had its chances — which included three additional corner kicks — it was unable to capitalize in the final 21 minutes. "It was a good win," Columbia coach Frank Washburn said. "I think Wellington is probably the best team that we've played. They have a lot of skill. It was a good back-and-forth game. Everybody is chipping in a little bit here, a little bit there. It's working out well so far." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. Columbia 4, Wellington 3 GOALS: (W) Braedon McCann (14th minute), Baptiste Fontaine (34th minute), Michael Fox (59th minute); (C) Jack Washburn (9th and 40th minutes), Haroon Shakib (10th minute), John Bodo (26th minute). ASSISTS: (W) Reece Leiby (59th minute); (C) Bodo (40th minute). SHOTS: Wellington 15, Columbia 20. SHOTS ON GOAL: Wellington 11, Columbia 15. SAVES: (W) Fox 1, Andrew Raven 10; (C) Evan Joreski 8. FOULS: Wellington 10, Columbia 7. YELLOW CARDS: Wellington 1, Columbia 1. CORNER KICKS: Wellington 4, Columbia 2. FREE KICKS: Wellington 7, Columbia 10. GOAL KICKS: Wellington 10, Columbia 7. HALFTIME: Columbia, 4-2.