1A #3 Bethany Christian - NorthWood 4-1 (3-0)

A poorly played first half by NorthWood resulted in a 3-0 Bethany advantage after 40 minutes of play. A slow and lazy looking NorthWood in the first half, gave away to a transformed and energetic looking TEAM in the second half led by senior Connor Beckwith. A confrontational half time was meant to wake up the Panthers and get them to realize that there is a lot left to fight for, the remainder of the season. The encouraging part of Thursday's game is that the team definitely responded.

The first half could not have started worse when marks on the weak side were lost on one of the first Bethany attacks resulting in a Hollinger Janzen goal within 6 minutes. Just a little later, the same Hollinger-Janzen would get the ball near the box and a slow attempt to get in front of the ball is not enough to block an unbelievable shot that lands in the left upper 90 for a 2-0 lead. Apathy seems to be the best word to describe the rest of the half.

A much better second half results in better play overall. Faster and better passes, more pressure on the Christian's midfield results in more possession. An unfortunate attempt to defend the ball out results in a Bethany steal in the box ending up in the ropes for a 4-0 score. But the Panthers kept on playing and playing well at times. With 7 minutes left in the match, Connor crosses the ball from the right flank into the box where Eddie meets up with the ball. The ball ends up over the chalk for the final score, 4-1. The assist for Connor is well deserved after he turned out to be one of the NW workhorses in the second half. If we only could have done it for 80............

NOTES
The JV played its final game of the season and lost 4-2 after going ahead 2-0 on a Jair and Brandon Shields goal early on. Their record for the 2011-2012 is 2-11-1 so there is room for improvement. Thanks to Tom Shields and Kenny Beachy for coaching the JV and we hope to see them back next season.

Thanks also to Colleen Knepp, our bus driver, who first took the JV to Goshen and then came back to pick up the Varsity a couple of hours later so they did not have to sit in the rain for hours. Now that she has become a northwoodsoccer.blogspot.com follower it has become impossible for me to talk about her on the blog any longer.

The Varsity played very well the first ten minutes of the second half, despite being down a man (only ten players stepped on the field after play resumed). Eusebio came in to make us a full team again.

All JV players should get their uniforms washed (to get rid of the pounds of Bethany dirt); an announcement will be made when shirts/shorts & warm-ups need to be handed in.

At this point, we are still on for a 2 pm Saturday NLC/Senior "night" game at the game field. If there are any changes, I will make sure to post those here!