CHANGE**BREMEN-NORTHWOOD GAME**

Bremen does not have lights on their game field. Therefore the Varsity game will be played first and will start at 5 pm. The JV will follow at the conclusion of the Varsity game and will be played hopefully in its entirety or until darkness.

Update- trip Concord-Warsaw game

The bus will leave the AC at 6:20 pm. Any varsity players interested in going will need to be at the AC at that time. Game starts around 6:45 pm and players are responsible for paying to get in. Cost is probably 5- 6 dollars.

NorthWood up to date schedule for athletic events

http://nwhs.wanee.org/html/teacher-staff/athletic-office/index.html

Copy and paste the above link to find the "NW Master Schedule List" that has all the up to date athletic events listed.

Jacob update

Jacob's surgery to repair a torn ACL lasted 4 hours. Jacob was in good spirits last night and was enjoying the meds he was on. His knee was still numb last night. He is hoping to come home this morning.

Concord vs Warsaw information - correction

The Warsaw at Concord game is Wednesday night, not Tuesday night. The game will start around 6:45 pm. Any Varsity player is invited to go to the game with the coaches (we should be able to secure a bus). Players will have to pay to get in. We will probably leave around 6:15 or so.

HELP WANTED

Individual to help take video footage of the home matches. Please contact contact Lindy Seitz in person or via email at papabean99@gmail.com. Training and equipment will be provided, just need volunteers to help record the first half of ANY Home Varsity match - whenever your schedule permits. This helps to provide a view of the matches that Coaches Duerksen and Dijkstra don't get to normally see for their evaluations.

Mishawaka - NorthWood 1st goal,Connor Beckwith

Mishawaka-NorthWood 2nd goal, Roman Ortiz-Prather

Mishawaka-NorthWood 3rd goal, Eddie Salinas

THIS WEEK IN NW SOCCER

The JV will travel to Westview Tuesday. The Varsity will go to the Concord-Warsaw match up that night since the Varsity is idle Tuesday. Thursday night both teams travel to Bremen. JV start is 5 pm with the Varsity to follow around 6:45 pm.

VIDEOGRAPHER/PHOTOGRAPHER LINDY SEITZ
Without his contributions this would be the most boring blog ever.

Mishawaka-NorthWood Varsity pics

NEW NUMBER

TEAM IN THE NEW RED JERSEYS

WALKING WOUNDED

SITTING WOUNDED

Mishawaka-NorthWood 0-3 (0-2)

SOME SPRINKLER ACTION DURING THE GAME WARM-UP


The JV was a great opening act on a glorious day. They would defeat the Cavemen's JV squad 2-3 (2-1) with nice goals from Isai, Jordan Thompson and Jair. The win evens their record at 2-2.

After listening to music from the 70's thru 90's it was the hope of all that referee screamin' Mimi would not topple over again during the Varsity game.

After a nicely sung National Anthem it was the Panthers' turn to turn in a good performance. The pre-game talk was about a lot of little issues that needed attention but special focus would be on keeping the "0" on the scoreboard defensively and for the first time this year trying to leave town with the first shutout of the year.

Some starters ate some of the uncooked pieces of meat on a bun (sold under the name "hot dog")and both Coaches were hoping for better decisions when these boys were between the white lines.

FIRST HALF
The first few minutes, the Cavemen took control of the ball and possessed in the middle third of the field (also called "court" by some spectators. Just for the readers of this blog by the way; courts are for tennis or baskeball. field or pitch is used for soccer). But soon after that, the Panthers took over and not just control of the ball but they pretty much took over the game from that point on. In the 3rd minute, Eddie passed a long ball out of the back to Connor who served Noodle who, in turn took a solid shot. The low bouncing shot missed the frame while the keeper was slow to get down. Four minutes later Taylor got his first opportunity for a shot at goal and a minute after that (7th) the same could be said for Josh (Josh Ellis for the day, according to the announcer).
In the 18th, Connor passes the ball over the defense to Josh, whose nice shot goes over. In the 27th, Josh would return the favor and makes a perfect pass to Connor. Connor shoots the ball, keeps it down and the ball disappears in the left corner, 1-0.
For the next 11 minutes, NorthWood controlls the game without too many problems. A lot of good passes turn into a nice possession game.
A handball in the Mishawaka box with two minutes to play in the half, leads to a NW penalty kick. Noodle executes perfect from the dot, 2-0.

HALF TIME
Some minor adjustments are made and some differences in the 4-4-2 formation of the day are discussed as well.

SECOND HALF
All in all, NorthWood plays out a good game, scoring again in the 45th minute. Tad's nice pass to his right from about 23 out to Eddie was nice in itself after a NW corner kick. But it was Eddie's hard hit "knuckler" that shook the dust off the ropes in the upper left that not only made it 3-0, but was also a goal that will contend for goal of the season.
A little bit of a letdown in the last 10 minutes gave Mishawaka some chances near the box but none were too threatening. Kyle was credited with only one save which means the defense did its job. The 3-0 gives NorthWood and Kyle their first shut out of the season.

NOTES
The injury bench is crowded. Vitor, Jacob and Collin are all still out for now. Vitor Rosario might be back practicing this week and might be in line for a JV rehab assignemnt in the near future. Our team mate Jacob Smith will undergo surgery Monday morning. Collin Tucker will have X-rays on Wednesday at OSMC to see if he just sprained his ankle or if he has a fracture as well.

Northridge-NorthWood Varsity Pics

Northridge-NorthWood 3-1 (1-1)

A disappointing performance results in a 3-1 loss. NW scores the first goal (Eddie Salinas goal, Taylor Wegmiller assist)but then allows the Raiders to score three unanswered goals. Collin Tucker goes down with an ankle injury and Jake gets confirmation that he has a torn ACL. He will undergo surgery Monday.
The Varsity falls to 2-2-0

The Junior Varsity lost 5-1, Jose Medina scores the only Panther goal.
The JV record stands at 1-2-0.

Tonight's game on the web

According to the Elkhart Truth, tonight's Varsity game can be watched on the internet at michianasportsauthority.com. The broadcast will start at 6:30 pm. So alert your friends and family who are unable to attend the game. They can now watch the Panthers play online, wherever they are!

NorthWood-Lakeland JV pictures

NorthWood-Lakeland Christian Varsity pics

NorthWood-Lakeland Christian 7-3 (4-1)

The Cougars would trickle in, one by one, with private transportation. I guess there is something to be said for public schools. Lights were turned on due to the overcast and the Pythons Soccer team would walk out with the Varsity before the game. As you will see in the pictures, it is hard to distinguish the difference between Eusebio and his shadow. The referees were dressed in yellow and gave a card of the same color to, of all people, Noodle. The "innocent Spaniard" went in the books with a caution and a couple of goals!

FIRST HALF
The Panthers were able to take the game to the Cougars early on and had some great opportunities. In the 8th, a pass from Clay to Taylor, gave Taylor a chance to score but he missed to the right of the pipes. It was Noodle who opened the floodgates in the 16th with a well executed PK (foul in the box was on Taylor). Six minutes later, a combination from Barahona to Collin would end up in front of Taylor Wegmiller who took it to goal and went one on one with the Lakeland Christian GK. A well placed ball ends up in the net, 2-0. Only two minutes later, Connor Beckwith decides to dribble thru the LCA defense and also puts the ball against the ropes, 3-0. SO far, so good.In the 25th minute Carter Beebe scores but the goal is determined to be offside (this would happen in the latter stages of the game as well).
In the 28th minute a poorly defended corner (no near post coverage) ends up in the NW goal, 3-1. A minute before the half and Eddie Salinas corner ends up in the goal and Barahona is "credited" with the goal.

HALF TIME
Too many issues were discussed at the half but it is clear that defensively we can not keep giving up cheap goals. Communication and organizing the defense are changes that are needed in the second half.

SECOND HALF
The second half starts out like the first one did. Four minutes into the half, Eddie passes to Taylor who, without hesitation, increases our lead to 5-1.
In the 48th minute, a defensive miscue allows LCA to score another goal and the lead is back to three (5-2).
In the 50th, Taylor gets a nice chance in a 1v1 situation but misses to the left of the frame.
The center ref has never liked Coach Dijkstra much. He has a good reason to. Years ago in an indoor game he reffed (and I played in), I called him a bad dutch word to my dutch teammate. Little did I know that the ref was from South Africa where Dutch is spoken also. This little "incident" cost me a red card and he has not cared for me too much ever since.
In an effort to still get even with me, he probably figured Noodle should have a yellow caution. Noodle accepted "the gift" gracefully and left the game temporarily.
In the 56th, Taylor decided that scoring goals is getting boring so he wanted to get in on the assist action. A nice pass to Connor resulted in a his second goal of the night. Two minutes later, Josh goes one on one with the LCA keeper, but the LCA goalie makes a nice save to keep the score at 6-2. After the 60th minute of play, NW would get plenty of opportunties. One of those hits the woodwork, another goal is ruled to have been scored in an off side position.
Unfortunately, in the 76th, Lakeland Christian's Glock takes a long distance shot without any NW defensive interference and the ball lands in the far corner, 6-3.
Roman Ortiz-Prather takes an absolute sick shot that hits the net in the 80th minute, final score 7-3.

NOTES
Jacob Smith got injured on a defensive play, late in the second half. Tests with Mr. Widner were inconclusive but the knee injury will keep him out of Thursday's game for sure. Jacob will have additional tests done on his knee Thursday.
Today's practice will be at the practice field.

Directions for Saturday's Game vs Mishawaka

Mishawaka plays its soccer games at Ward Baker Park, 811 S. Byrkit St., Mishawaka, IN 46544. It's only a few minutes away from the High School. Saturday's game times are:

10 AM JV
12 pm Varsity

REMINDER*****Game Time Change*****

The Varsity game against Lakeland Christian starts at 5 pm tonight at home. The JV will play one half, following the Varsity game.

NW Varsity trip to Notre Dame-Creighton game

The Varsity squad took a short bus trip to Notre Dame to watch two nationally ranked teams battle to a 2-2 tie in pre-season action.

NorthWood -Central Varsity pics

"#1 IN YOUR PROGRAM & IN YOUR HEARTS" GETS A CHUCKLE FROM THE REFFING TRIO

NorthWood-Central JV pics

NorthWood JV - Elkhart Central JV 0-8 (0-6)

A better second half (where only two goals were allowed) then a disastrous first half.
Record: 0-1-0
Next up:vs Lakeland Christian Tuesday, following the Varsity contest.

Friday practice

The Varsity will meet in Duerksen's room to view the DVD of last night's game before heading over to the practice field. The JV will be at the practice field right away.

NorthWood- Elkhart Central 1-3 (1-1)

A tale of two halves for sure. NorthWood played a strong possession game in the first half with several opportunities. In the 12th minute of play, a high pass in the box was headed by Eddie past the keeper to Josh who placed the ball in the net for the opening score.
Just before the half, an unlucky trip by Connor resulted in a PK for Central. According to numerous players the foul was outside the box but the referee decided on a penalty nonetheless. Kyle dove to his right but the ball went to his left, 1-1.

The second half was a complete opposite from the first. Where we played composed in the first, we lost our heads in the second. Where we kept our shape in the first, we were unable to show any kind of shape in the second. Where we were running relentless in the first, we seemed tired and slow in the second. And so, little by little, Central took over the game while scoring on two more occassions. Kyle had a great save late in the game but that did not get the team going either. Defensively we looked great in the first half but much less so in the second.


Unfortunately we played only 40 minutes of soccer and we need to extend that to 80 minutes. It is obvious we have the talent and capability to play good soccer but there is work to be done. With Lakeland Christian and Northridge on the horizon it is clear that we will have plenty of opportunities to erase the bad memories of the second half.

NEXT UP : HOME GAME VS. LAKELAND CHRISTIAN, TUESDAY ****EARLY START*** 5 PM VARSITY START ***EARLY START***

Whitko-NorthWood pics

For more pictures of the game, go to "PARENT'S PAGE" or "NorthWood Soccer pictures on Facebook" under Links.

Flag holder Whitko style

Traditional flag holder




Flag holder Whitko style

1982 called.....

AND THEY WANT THEIR UNIFORMS BACK!

Whitko - NorthWood 2-13 (0-8)

An uneventful bus ride led us to a football field somewhere between Warsaw and Columbia City. The new rule of changing into soccer gear in the AC locker room resulted in Tim leaving his soccer shoes there but with Collin out for the game with an injury/illness, a pair of cleats became available. These cleats must be haunted, because Tim fell ill with an undetermined illness as well.

FIRST HALF
After observing the Whitko warm up drill it became pretty obvious that we would have to find ways not to score. With about 50 people in the stands (hopefully we have reached the season low attendance already) it was NW that wasted little time getting on the monster scoreboard. A third minute pass from Taylor to Noodle, disappeared in the upper left crossing for the first goal of the season. In the 4th, Josh passed straight thru the middle to Taylor. TW signed for the 2-0. In the 7th Eddie assisted on another Taylor goal (3-0 if you are still keeping track). Three minutes later, Eusebio passes to the opposing keeper in a 1v1 situation in what can only be characterized as a sign of Latin Love for Whitko. In the next minute, Josh crossed (this will become a key word)to Eddie, who executes well, 4-0. The next 29 minutes we would score another 4 goals. 14th; Clay assist/Vitor "Rivellino" Rosario goal. 16th; free kick, Josh Ailes goal. 21st; Eusebio assist from the end line, beautiful Bennett Parker volley (goal of the night!) 7-0. Thompson assist, Vitor goal, 8-0.

HALF TIME
Due to the score and opposing level of play, Coach Duerksen instructs the players they can only score off of crosses but asks the players to just focus on possessing the ball.

SECOND HALF
The game would turn into our easiest practice of the season so far. Trying not to score was possibly the toughest issue facing the Panthers especially since possessing the ball was tough on a very narrow field (the 18 yard box was only about four steps from the sideline). Here is the summary of scoring in the second half: 47" Taylor 9-0 (Eddie assist), 48" 9-1 Sims (Whitko), 56" Eddie 10-1 (Connor assist), 58" Josh 11-1 (Eddie/Taylor assist), 64" Sims (Whitko)11-s PK, Thompson handball (that's what happens when you put a GK in the box with a ball), 72" Connor 13-2 (Parker assist).
SUMMARY
Goals: Noodle 1, Parker 1, Salinas 2, Vitor 2, Ailes 2, Beckwith 2, Taylor 3.
Assists: Thompson/Parker/Beckwith/Seitz/Eusebio 1, Ailes 2, Taylor/Eddie 3.

NOTES
This will probably be our first and last trip to Whitko.
This is Whitko's inaugural soccer season (they have had a club team since at least 2002).
Coach Dijkstra got yelled at by the other team's coach for getting upset at one of his own Panthers. He did not apologize but instead ignored the Whitko admonishment discarding it as overwhelming unawareness.
Today's Varsity practice is at the game field.

THURSDAY GAMEDAY INFORMATION

JV players will need to be at the field on Thursday for the game against Elkhart Central at 4:15. We will be wearing white shirts, black shorts and white socks. Two players will need to stay to run balls for the Varsity contest.
JV Game time - 5 pm
Varsity game time - 6:45 pm

Elkhart Central JV record 1-0
Elkhart Central Varsity record 1-0

GAMEDAY

The bus leaves the AC at 3:45 pm today. New for this season: All players will need to change in the AC locker rooms as opposed to the bathrooms in the school. Game time is 5 pm and as mentioned before, the game will take place at the Whitko Middle School, not the High School. Directions have been provided to all Varsity players and have also been posted on this blog.

The JV will have a regular practice at the High School.

Tomorrow's Varsity practice is at the game field; the JV will practice at the High School.

Whitko game field location update

Whitko plays its soccer game at their Middle School. For GPS users, use 710 North State Road 5, Larwill. Direction below are from Yahoo Maps:


Go East On US HWY 6

Turn Right on IN-15 - go 13 mi

Turn Right to take ramp onto US-30 E - go 13.8 mi

Turn Right on N DEPOT ST - go 0.2 mi

Bear Right on W MAIN ST(IN-5) - go 0.10mi

Continue to follow IN-5 - go 0.30 mi

Turn Left on N IN-5 - go 0.40.6 mikm

Arrive at 710 N STATE ROAD 5, LARWILL, on the Left

Whitko Middle School

Red-Black Game 2011 pics

PRE GAME FLY OVER

Alumni Game 2011 pics

Argos Invitational Draw

NorthWood drew John Glenn in the first round of the Argos Invitational to be played on Saturday September 10 in Argos. Argos drew Griffith. The winners of game 1 & 2 play each other for the Championship and the losers of the first two games play for 3rd & 4th place.

Red-Black scrimmage

The game was split up in three periods. The first and second twenty minute periods were played between two evenly divided teams. The workrate on the black team was a little better then on the white team (this is why we must call it the red-black scrimmage, I reckon)and that made the difference in the final result (2-0?) although the coaching probably would have something to do with that as well. The last period (30 minutes)had a "Black" lineup of Varsity only vs. Varsity/JV starters mix. The pace increased in this period, as did the combinations on the field. There is still a lot of work to do before the first game (Tuesday, away @ Whitko). We need to be more patient and focus more on possessing the ball and waiting for opportunities instead of going straight to goal all the time. Practice friday and monday are from 3:30 - 5:30 at the High School practice field.

Alumni Game 2011

A very low turnout (about 8 players) meant we had to narrow and shorten the field. With three coaches and a guest player (Alex Montgomery, former player at Fairfield HS, Ohio and cousin to Ben and Kyle Dijkstra)we could play 6v6. Brody Morningstar, Dustin Shaw, Chris Roelandts, Nate Davidhizar, Ben Dijkstra, Cam Seitz, Ryan Lincoln and Daniel Villa made up the alumni this year. Last year we had about 24 players show up so it was a little disappointing to see the drop in numbers. Must be the trend to not have enough players. I forgot the score, probably because I really never knew what the score was but if I were to guess, I would say it ended in a 14-14 tie.

Schedule Change 8/23/11

Due to the fact that Lakeland Christian had a low number of athletes come out for soccer, the JV game has been shortened to one half. The Varsity game will start at 5 pm followed at 6:30 by the JV game (1/2 game).

Order forms due

The order forms for t-shirts, hoodies etc. are due. If anyone has not handed those in to Mrs. Beckwith yet, bring them to practice today and give the forms to Connor.

Buddy picture

Long talked about buddy picture. But the long wait was well worth it...........

Picture Day

Yesterday was picture day. Pictured above is the 2011-2012 NorthWood Men's Soccer Varsity.

Practice Schedule week 2 (8/8 - 8/12/11)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 9-10am (on the track) and 3:30 - 5:30pm.

Thursday is the intra squad scrimmage around 7:15pm on the game field (no practice).

Friday 3:30-5:30pm.

Today (Monday 8/8) is also picture & media day at 3 pm for JV & Varsity.

New Link

The top link "Parent's Page" will now direct you to the NorthWood Soccer Parent's page. This page will have location information to away games, pictures of JV & Varsity games and information coming from the representatives of the Captains Club.

Car Wash Saturday

Tomorrow's car wash starts at 10 am, all players should be at LJ Wagner's at 09:45.

Senior Run

Seniors lead the teams in a 45 minute conditioning run thru town on Friday 8/5/11.

First week in the books

The first week of two-a-days is in the books.