4.25 Default 3rd person char controller turn vs strafe

This is going to be a newb question but I have now spent 4 hours trying to understand something very simple.

In the default character controller, the a and d keys cause the character to turn left and right.

I have been attempting to make the character strafe or slide right instead. I realize that I will need to change the blend space likely from a 1d to a 2d because the 1d doesnt handle the animations and movements but I have not been able to overcome the turn.

I followed another tutorial that was very succinct and gave me the mechanics I wanted, When I add the same things here, I still get the spin.

I edited the project settings -> Input Axis controls, and the character event graph is fairly simple, but I just cant get a handle on why in this project it twists/rotates but in the tutorial it strafes.

I guess the simple question here, is can someone point me toward somewhere that would help me convert the default 3rd persoin controller and blend space into a one that strafes.

I attempted to add a character movement -> orient rotation to movement FALSE which had no effect.

I am a software developer and have very little experience with visual coding, so I am certain I am simply not connecting on parts of the logic here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

LIke I said, just by creating a new project in 4.24 + you get the turn functionality and I want it to strafe. You would think this would be an easy change considering most of the popular games, like fortnite, have this functionality. I would have expected this to be a default project setting.