End of Season Announcements

Kyle will send out a Remind with the information on uniform turn in and helping to get the equipment out of the Locker Room Wednesday. Attendance is mandatory.

#20 NorthWood - # 16 West Noble 1-2 (1-0/1-2 after ET) - Sectional Championship

In what turns out to be the final team huddle of the season, the Panthers take the field on a cool and blustery Saturday afternoon in the 2023 Sectional Final. The Panthers go ahead on a 6" goal from Dominic DeFreitas. This score stand until a defensive miscue with 10 minutes left in the game. The ensuing free kick is deflected and therefore out of reach for Trace Roja. This then sends the game into Extra Time (2x 7 minutes). Another defensive mistake gets the Chargers their second goal in de the first half of extra time. Despite a barrage of attacks by the Panthers, the ball doesn't roll our way. The season ends despite great play in the play offs in which we were the better team in both games. A large and engaged crowd saw an entertaining game. The season comes to an end and the Panthers finish with a 9-8-1 record. A great effort was put in by all and the Seniors played their hearts out! Unfortunately this is where it ends for them. Thank you Seniors for four years of hard work!!!!

A large crowd sees the Panthers lose to West Noble in a Sectional Finals thriller.

Game Day 18 Sectional Championship Saturday 10/7/23 @ 2 pm - # 20 NorthWood - # 16 West Noble

NorthWood tries to make it back to back Sectionals as they play in their first home Final ever. This is the second Sectionals hosted by NorthWood; the last one -4 years ago- was won by West Noble. The Chargers have a 11-4-3 record, the Panthers are 9-7-1. The teams have 5 common opponents, both of them going 3-1-1. West Noble is 53-12 in the Goals Scored and Given Up categories and obviously has a very good defense.The Panthers have scored 49 but given up 33. But none of it matters because it now all comes down to how this Final will be played by either team. Sol has been ruled out for the rest of the season sustaining an ACL and Meniscal tear in the last play of Monday's practice while Goalkeeper Trace Roja is expected back tomorrow. The weather will feel much different from the last game; it will be 51 and cloudy but it will feel colder with NW winds expected to be around 17 mph at kick off.

#20 NorthWood - Garrett 3-0 (2-0)

After # 16 West Noble finishes off Lakeland (8-0), it is time for the other remaining ranked team to take care of business. The warm up still seems a little lackluster but the hope is that the energy will change come kick off time.

The pre game talk contains references to our injured and sick team mates Trace and Sol and that we want to give them a chance to play Saturday.

It is one of the best nights weatherwise for soccer this season and as Billy Joel would say or sing rather, the regular crowd shuffles in. By kick off time the stands and apron are filling up nicely.

The Panthers start with energy and conviction although the first ten minutes are a little jittery from both sides. Understandable obviously with what is at stake. NorthWood's Head Coach Kyle Dijkstra has to make quite a few changes with the starting keeper trace Roja being under the weather and Solomon having to sit off with a knee injury. Maddox Brown takes the spot between the woodwork just as he did in the first game of the season. Hopefully this won't be our last. Michele Calderone and Jager Bute fill the spots on the field vacated by Sol and Maddox. After things settle down a bit, NW begins to threaten more. Aware of the fact that the Garrett keeper is one of the best we will see all season, scoring will be a challenge. A ball that seems to go out of play over the end line gets crossed by Dom from the right straight to Carlos who taps it over for what seemed to be a chance for an early lead. Three minutes later, the Railroaders get their first chance but their effort is saved by Maddox.The 23rd minute sees a lot of action in front of the Garrett goal; Grant shoots a high ball that requires a tip from the GK and Dom's shot in the same minute has the man in pink make another save to prevent the first goal of the game. NW keeps threatening and in the 24th produces a very nice goal that involves half of the field players. Wes Bell finds Dom who crosses for a switch with authority to Grant who controls it with one touch and finds Carlos who redirects it to Jager. Jager makes a move and takes a shot that finds the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.Only 5 minutes later, the Panthers threaten once again when a ball on the left flank has Carlos aggressively attacking at speed. As he tries to pass the defender, the defender seems to get the ball, kicks it but it ricochets off of Carlos' head. He goes into the box and places the ball at the goal. It rebounds off the GK back to Carlos who shoots the dust off the ropes for a 2-0 lead. The Railroaders coaching staff call for a handball (referring to the ball that hit Carlos' head) but after the referee confers with the AR, it is determined to be a goal. The people who had the worst angle (or no angle) on that play were the Garrett coaches. Therefore any protests after that (and there were plenty of them) were mostly unbelievable. The complaining might have helped when Dom shoots the ball so hard into the goal with no chance for the Railroaders stopper to even get close but the goal is disallowed for offside. Probably a result of all the complaining from the visitors bench. The half time talk focuses on keeping composure and closing out the game. Garrett, a team not known for scoring a lot, will be done, is the thinking, if we put in one more. In the 51st, Garrett gets a great opportunity and their forward takes a hard well placed shot in the right corner but an amazing dive and save by Maddox keeps the ball out of the net. The final nail in the proverbial coffin comes in the 54th when Jager scores after a throw in from the right side for his second (brace) and the Panthers' third and final goal of the night. By the time there are 15 minutes left on the clock, both teams get to put all the bench players in to get some minutes on the field at Sectionals. A very hard working energetic NW team that saw Michele start and Sebastian get a lot of minutes (with lots of energy and threatening offensive soccer) get the well deserved victory and if we continue this type of performance, Saturday will be an interesting match up with West Noble at 2 pm. NorthWood moves to 9-7-1 on the season and tries to get back to back setional Championships Saturday! The overall team performance was the best it has been all season and we could name all players individually for their performance because the passing was without a fault as crisp and accurate as we have seen all season and the urgency was clear to everyone off the pitch!! A job well done !

Maddox Brown, back up keeper, starting for the second time this season, gets a clean sheet!!

Game Day 17 Garret - #20 NorthWood

NorthWood will don the away kit since the draw placed us there. The Panthers are 8-7-1 and the Railroaders are 7-8-1. The Panthers have scored 46 goals on the season and allowed 33 where Garrett has scored 22 (6 by #15 Leech) and given up only 18 in 16 games. NorthWood looks to be without keeper Trace Roja and Solomon Yegon tonight and therefore battle a bit of adversity. It looks to be one of the last nice warm fall nights for the foreseeable future so we are hoping for a nice crowd tonight. Lakeland (with only two wins all season) will take on West noble in the early game. First game at 5 pm, NW kicks off at 7 pm.

NorthWood Sectional Update

#16 West Noble beats Wawasee 2-0 and Lakeland upsets Angola 2-0 which sets up the 5 pm Wednesday Semi Final West Noble - Lakeland. #20 NorthWood faces Garrett at 7 pm tomorrow.

Final ISCA Poll of the season

NorthWood drops to #20 in the final poll of the season. The Panthers were as high as #15 this season but have been ranked all year for the first time in school history. West Noble is the only other ranked team in our Sectional at #16.

NorthWood-Plymouth 2-3 (0-1)

13" 0-1, 60" 0-2, 61"1-2 PK (Carlos), 73" 1-3 (PK), 78" 2-3 (Dom). A sparse crowd on Senior Night witnessses a 2-0 JV win. One of the best seasons for our JV finishes at 7-8-1. The Varsity ends the regular season at 8-7-1 and now starts to prepare for a Garrett team that has had a good season and all reports indicate they will be a tough opponent. A loss to Plymouth puts us only ahead of Mishawaka and Wawasee in the NLC meaning that we will end up with very few All NLC awards. A very disappointing result. Seniors Trace Roa, Mark Santos, Solomon Yegon, Grant Miller, Carlos Alvarez-Ramirez, Wesley Bell, Gifton Yegon as well as Foreign Exchange Students Michele Calderone (Italy), Sebastian Lindstrom (Sweden), Bruno Castrillo and Aimar Legaz Pagan (both Spain) played their last regular season game.

Game Day 16 - Final game of the regular season

#18 NorthWood will host its Senior Night tonight at Wellfield Park. The opponent is Plymouth who beat us 1-4 in the pre-season. The Pilgrim/Rockies are 5-8-1 on the season with wins over Argos (2x), Mishawaka, LaPorte and Logansport. Their 6'2" Forwards Zalaya (#11) has scored 13 times and will be the topscorer on the pitch tonight. The Panthers fell two spots in the rankings last week to #18. They were surpassed by West Noble who could be a Finals opponent in Sectionals if the Panthers were to beat Garrett. But tonight the focus is on two other things; the Seniors who have helped the program for the last four years (with Carlos being the lone player who also appeared on the Varsity Roster during our Semi State game in his freshman year) and of course the result of tonight's game. A win will guarantee a winning season. Jager is out for tonight, everyone else seems to be healthy enought to play. JV plays at 5:30; Varsity at 7:15 pm. Bring an umbrella!

2023 Sectional Draw

A good draw for the Panthers who will play the late game in the semi final round versus the Garrett Railroaders.

#16 NorthWood - New Prairie 6-2 (2-0)

New Prairie visits the Panthers on a picture perfect Fall day. The JV starts out with a win on a Kyler Fike goal. The Varsity takes the field with the knowledge that only three more (home) games are guaranteed for the season and for the seniors, their careers at NW. The back and forth flow of th game is interrupted by stoppage in the 16th when a hand ball in the New Prairie box turns into a PK for the Panthers. Carlos takes the penalty and decidedly puts it away for the 1-0 lead. The prettiest combination of the day starts with a Dominic DeFreitas rabona to the left side where Grant receives it and then then crosses it perfectly into the box to Carlos. His header is directed downward and hits the right post and bounces back out. In the 32nd, NW boys soccer history is made again when Michele Calderone scores (Maddox free kick) the first Italian goal in program history.2-0 is the HT score. At the half some minor adjustments are discussed. The second half does not start out the way anyone would like. A total lack of focus causes the Panthers to give up an own goal in the 44th, 2-1 now. Fortunately, Carlos attacks the box aggressively in the 46th. The only one going with in the box is Maddox (Jack is trailing, no one else is around). Carlos' shot/cross hits the crossbar and the very alert Maddox Brown picks up the rebound and shoots the ball into the ropes for a 3-1 lead. Another 180 seconds later, Maddox gets involved again and assists Dom when the latter puts in #4 (4-1). The nicest goal of the day goes to Jager Bute. In the 51st, Grant Miller passes a nice ball just around the box. Jager's first touch is great, the second touch gets rid of the defender and the third one is the shot in the corner that makes the score 5-1. The Cougars try to get back into the game when they score in the 56th (5-2) but a Michele Calderone pass to Grant in the 76th puts the game out of reach when Grant scores to make the final score 6-2. The Varsity moves to 8-6-1 on the season with one game to go in the regular season. That game will be Tuesday when we host NLC opponent Plymouth on our 2023 Senior Night.

Game Day 15

The New Prairie Cougars are 8-4-1 on the season. Common opponents are Mishawaka (W/W), Trinity (NP - L, NW - W), ECA (NP L, NW W), Marion L/L). JV starts at 10, Varsity at 11:45. Team Dinner at the Dosal compound at 3 pm.

#16 NorthWood - Penn 0-4 (0-1)

Game Day 14

The Penn Kingsmen come to town tonight with a 6-5-2 record. Penn plays a tough schedule each year and this season is no exception. So far, the Kingsmen are 0-3-1 against common opponents where NW is 0-4. Northridge ( Penn 2-1 L, NW 2-0 L), Concord (Penn 2-1 L, NW 2-0L), Marian (Penn 3-1 L, NW 5-1 L), Warsaw (Penn 1-1 D, NW 5-0 L)all were games with very similar results although Penn's look to be a little bit better. Therefore, tonight's match up between # 16 NorthWood and Penn will be a tough one for the Panthers. NorthWood is 7-5-1 on the season. JV kicks off at 5, Varsity at 6:45 pm. Temperature will be in the low 70's at kick off; a perfect night to take in some NW soccer.

Mishawaka - #16 NorthWood 0-12 (0-9)

The goal for the night is to score enough to get out of town in 60 minutes. We are well ahead of shedule after ten seconds when right from the kickoff a Dom pass lands in front of Grant who puts it into the gaol. It is 0-1 before the Cavemen even touch the ball and the second quickest goal in NorthWood Boys Soccer history. A second goal follows when Solomon Yegon shoots and scores in the 6th (unassisted). The tally looks as follows: 14" Wes from the back to Dom to Carlos, 0-3. 21" Sol goal (assist Sebastian Lindstrom)0-4. 31" Madddox goal, Jack assist 0-5. 32" Dom 0-6 unassisted0-6. 36" a party ensues in Sweden as Sebastian Lindstrom becomes the first Swede to score a goal for NorthWood 0-7! 37" Drew Davis goal (nice finish) on a Dom assist 0-8. 38" 0-9 and to quote my notes Dom Ass (Dominic assist) off Jack Ass (Jack Assist) for the Half Time score which also means the end of the starters being on the field for tonight with the exception of Bryce and Trace. A complete new line up takes the field in the second act. Five minutes into the second half, Sebastian gets his second assist of the night when the Cavemen OG for a double digit score (0-10). 66" Another Sebastian assist to Jager makes it 0-11. We now go full tilt on the international side of the lineup when Italian Michele Calderone assists Kyler for the last goal of the night 0-12. Not the last exciting moment though because with mere seconds left in the game, Jager threatens when ge goes into the box but gets fouled. The referee points at the dot and Trace gets a chance to again make NW Boys Soccer history. If he scores, he will be the first GK to score a goal. But he skies the ball into the ball catcher. No more chances at a PK for Trace...case closed. No coach will have to listen to Trace begging to take a PK again. Time to pick up our wet gear and head to the bus for some Subway!

FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM WE HAD TO USE THE FLAG IN THE BACKYARD OF THE HOUSE NEXT TO WARD BAKER PARK BECAUSE THE CAVEMEN DID NOT WANT THEIR NEW FLAG TO GET WET. Next up for NW- Thursday at home vs Penn. Varsity improves their record to 7-5-1. The rest of the regular season games and Sectionals will be at home!

Game Day 13

The # 16 Patners travel to Mishawaka to face the Cavemen at Ward Baker Park. A varsity only contest today that has a kick off time of 6 pm. The bus leaves at 4:30 pm. The JV has the day off. That same JV lost 1-2 to Penn's C team (Isaac bell goal). The 6-5-1 Panthers will face a Mishawaka team that is 1-7 on the season. Their only win (3-1) came against Oregan Davis oe week ago today.

Busy week ahead .....

MONDAY JV at home vs Penn C-team 5 pm. TUESDAY Varsity at Mishawaka 6 pm. THURSDAY at home vs Penn JV at 5 pm, Varsity at 6:45 pm. SATURDAY at home vs New Prarie. JV at 10 am, Varsity at 11:45 am.

2A #15 NorthWood - 3A #16 Goshen 1-2 (1-1)

Goshen carries a 7-1-3 record into this match with their only loss being to Northridge. They have only been scored on thrice in 11 matches and therefore a momentous task to breakdown the Red Hawks defense. Wellfield Park looks in good shape, the Parks Department groomed the field earlier this week and surely raked some valuables off the pitch. The pressbox is a crowded place tonight with Michiana Promotions doing the broadcast on Froggy. Tecia, Ryan and Ron are taking care of the radio side, Randy has the mic for the announcments and Kyle is in charge of the scoreboard. The game kicks off and from the start it is a back and forth type of game. NW does a decent job at some possession and passing. Our defense and midfeld look organized and it looks like the walk thru offensive and defensive refreshers have done their job (it is a comment we also got from the Goshen Coach that we are very organized defensively). With few opportunities, we have to wait until the 13th when a ball played back to the Goshen keeper is pressured by Sol. He almost gets to the ball but if nothing else, he makes it awkward for the Goshen final defender. Play continues to go up and down with a lot of box to box play. Goshen does start to take a little bit more control of the game and starts to camp out at our box more than we do at their end. In the 32nd, an innocent looking shot gets deflected by one of the NW defenders. Trace was already going to his right and can not change that halfway thru the movement to go the other way. The balls goes across the line for the unfortunate 0-1 Goshen lead. A good change from Tuesday is noticeable when the Panthers go right at the Goshen goal after the kick off. Dom looks comfortable in his new spot and plays the role well distributing balls deep and square.Four minutes after the Red Hawks goal we experience a very nice NW attack that starts in the middle third. When Dom gets the ball, he holds and then passes a accurate ball to Carlos who in turn finds Sol. Sol races at the box with a Goshen defender in hot pursuit on his shoulder but he stays away and is now one on one with the Goshen keeper. But Sol has no problems finishing to tie the game and surpass Brayton on the all time scoring list. Dom and Trace highlight the second half with their efforts. In the 52nd, Dom's free kick requires a tip by the GK onto the crossbar. The ball comes back into play but unfortunately, no NW player is close to put the ball away. Twenty minutes later NW has a corner that is taken by Sol. His corner finds Dom's head. The hard header is saved off the line by a Goshen defender. Two good opportunities that do not go our way. Goshen does control the last part of the second half and even though we defend very well, we do depend on Trace saving our rear ends several times with great saves. When Goshen's #10 does not get shut down near the box, he goes parallel with the 18 and takes a hard shot that is out of Trace's reach, 1-2. All this with just 6 minutes left on the clock. In the 76th, Trace has another great save to prevent a larger Goshen lead. The final is 1-2. We see good performances from all who step inside the lines. It looks like Sebastian has played with us for 4 years instead of 4 weeks. It gives us extra depth in the exhausting wingback positions. Not the result we wanted or were looking for but nonetheless a good demonstration of what we are capable of and surely gives us an idea that with the right work attitude and sticking to our set up and organizational plan, the best is yet to come. The JV loses 0-2 tonight and will prepare for their NLC tournament tomorrow at Goshen (10:30 and 1:30 pm). Friday's practice is on the grass at Wellfield from 3:30-5 pm. Varsity has the weekend off. Varsity is 6-5-1 on the season.

Game Day 12 - 3A # 16 Goshen - 2A # 15 NorthWood

It does not get any easier. After facing 3A #17 Tuesday, we now play 3A #16. The Red Hawks are 7-1-3 on the season and have given up only 3 goals. The Panthers are 6-4-1. JV kicks off at 5:30 pm and the Varsity has a 7:15 pm start. It will be a perfect night for soccer.