Northridge-NorthWood 5-0 (4-0)

Lopsided wins and losses seem to be the theme so far this season. With a decent half hour to start out the game, things turn south quickly when Northridge scores 1-0 in the 30th, 2-0 in the 33rd, 3-0 in the 37th and 4-0 in the 38th. A combination of poor defending, not clearing the ball after the keeper makes intial saves (twice), a loss of concentration and an ill advised delay in clearing a ball inside the box are to blame for a four goal deficit before the half. It is obvious at the half that we can not give up goals quick in succession after allowing the first one. It is also clear that Northridge outscores us in physicality. The second half sees a different NorthWood. This second half team shows heart, physical play and determination. Not until the 80th do we see a loss of concentration in the back (which results in the NR fifth goal) but overall, the second half shows a positive response to Coach Duerksen's challenge and if we keep playing this way next week, we should be able to add two "W's" to our record. NOTES...........The JV loses 5-0 as well; next game for JV (JV only) is Westview at home, Tuesday at 5 pm. The JV's record is 0-2-0. The Varsity plays Bremen next Thursday at Bremen (5 pm start for Varsity AND JV). The Varsity's record is 2-2-0. Today's practice is from 3:30 - 4:30 and will be a light one -after all the hard work from last night-.The next Varsity practice is Tuesday at the High School.

NorthWood-Lakeland Christian 7-0 (4-0)

............................PRE GAME RITUALS........................................NorthWood is busy with the pre game warm up while the big blue Lakeland Christian Academy bus circles the gamefield. The driver finally figures out where to enter the parking lot. The delay adds up to about a 15 minute late start with only two officials (#3 arrives at the half).FIRST HALF--With a small crowd of just over 60 looking on, Carter Beebe doesn't waste any time trying to keep the fans entertained when he places a nice cross in front of Brayton Taylor who misses the golden opportunity about 118 seconds into the game. But in minute 3, Beebe takes the ball on his feet into the 18 and decidedly places the ball into the net for the early lead, 1-0. In the 6th minute we start "the game within the game"; goals versus balls on the woodwork.A Beebe shot touches the crossbar and in the 7th, Beebe passes the ball to Bennet Parker who in turn shoots the ball against the left post (1-2 if you are keeping track). Five minutes later Dennyz Barahona decides to enter the competition as well with a crossbar shot (1-3). Brayton possesses the ball near the left side of the penalty box and gets the ball to Beebe who shoots the ball low over the line and in the goal for the 2-0 lead (18"). The same play takes place on the opposite side of the box with the same result (Brayton to Beebe)in the very same minute: 3-0 (18"). NorthWood dominates the game and Cody Cripe only gets to touch the ball a few times. Nothing spectacular takes place until the 39th, when Beebe passes the Wilson to Bennet Parker who, with a nice controlled and placed shot, increases the score to 4. HALF TIME--More emphasis is placed on the workrate and passing to feet. At the half, we have been able to put the ball in the goal four times and on the woodwork 5 (!!) times. SECOND HALF-- Brayton wastes no time running over a LCA midfielder (ploughed over might be the correct term). Ten minutes into the second act, Beebe steals the ball from a LCA defender and goes one on one with the keeper but without any result. Disaster strikes again for the Cougars in the same minute when Brayton crosses the ball near the six, the keeper punches the ball but it lands near Dennyz who decidedly volleys the ball on the frame and in the goal, 5-0. Four minutes later, Brayton serves a ball on a platter to Beebe, who makes no mistake and scores his fourth and the team's 6th (6-0). Bennet Parker wants his name on the scoresheet again by deciding to go in the assist column when he connects with Brayton. Brayton smoothly places the ball past the GK for the final 7-0 score. The game is played and despite a couple of more chances, the final score will turn out to be 7-0. Delio, Craven, Skyler, Eli, Dillon, Tito and Isaac and Toni all get playing time off the bench for the second time in three games. Our regular defense with Dyksen, Conner, David and Matt performed well (Matt almost scored with a nice bender to the left in the second half), the midfielders (Bennet, Derrick, Dennys and Brandon and Brayton) worked hard and pressured well and Beebe was very effective (4 goals and 1 assist)as the lone forward. NOTES-- Next game is @ Northridge tomorrow. The JV game starts at 5 pm followed by the Varsity (appr. 6:45 start). We will face a physical and hard working Northridge and in order to compete we will have to play the same way. The bus will leave the AC at 3:30 pm on Thursday. The Varisty record improves to 2-1-0. Today's practice is from 3:30 pm - 5 pm at the High School (both squads).

NorthWood-Elkhart Central Pics

Average crowd at home; captains and coaches before the game.

NorthWood-Elkhart Central 0-5 (0-3)

A medium sized crowd witnessed about 12-15 minutes of decent NW soccer and then the wheels fell off. A Blue Blazers cross into the box was finished off with a Ramirez header. It should not have had an impact on how we played but the goal led to the obvious kickoff that was immediately lost and within 21 seconds, the same Ramirez scores the 0-2. NorthWood then starts playing on its heels and never really recovers in the first half and actually gives up another goal in the 32nd minute of play. And were it not for some Cody Cripe heroics, the score could have been higher then that. Half time is a discussion about playing harder, high pressure and taking shots on an uncontested keeper. Despite that the second half shows some promise and play overall is somewhat more acceptable then the first, the Panthers still give up two late goals (70" & 78")for a 0-5 loss. NorthWood drops to 1-1-0, Central improves to 2-0-0. JV The JV (0-1-0) lost 0-7 to the Central JV (2-0-0). NOTES Today's practice will be short, focus now shifts to the Tuesday home game (note the 5 pm early start for Varsity, NO JV GAME)against Lakeland Christian.

2013 Soccer schedule changes/update

TUESDAY AUG 27- vs Lakeland Christian - No JV match, Varsity starts at 5PM. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 5- @ Bremen - both Varsity & JV play at 5pm. They have two fields but no lights MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23- @ Elkhart Christian -Varsity will play at 7pm

Update Lakeland Christian game time for Varsity, JV game canceled

The game versus Lakeland Christian on Tuesday August 17, 2013 will most likely start at 5 pm. A final announcement will be made closer to the day of the game but Lakeland Christian does not field a JV this year and therefore has requested an early Varsity contest start.

Whitko-NorthWood pics

PRE GAME TALK AND EMPTY MAIN STAND Without Lindy's pictures, this is about the best I can do.........

Whitko - NorthWood 0-10 (0-6)

FIRST HALF Both full squads occupy the middle of the field for a lineup announcement to be followed by a national anthem and a half.It is time for the season to start; Whitko's Blue Crew fails to show up, the ballman and ball lady are ready and the Whitko captains have carefully placed the ARMbands on their LEGS. The 2013 Stat Booster Bowl starts out with a bang when 20 (!!!!) seconds into the game, the leather already hits the ropes for the first time off the foot of Carter Beebe after a Bennett Parker assist.Unfortunately only a small crowd is witness to the quick start of the 2013 season. The game, being played on the Whitko football field which is nestled between the town's cemetery and the High School, actually is in pretty good shape for a soccer match. The main adjustment for the players is that they have to play the yellow side and end lines. Despite the fact that NW plays mostly on the Wildcats' half of the field, no more goals fall until the 18th minute when a goal kick doesn't get too far out of the box and Carter Beebe is able to steal the ball away from the Whitko central defender. He easily puts the ball away for a 0-2 lead. It is clear then that Whitko does not really have any weapons to outscore us at that point.A minute later, Brandon Barahona starts his barrage on the woodwork. First it splatters off the crossbar and a few moments later it hits the post. In the 23rd, Beebe takes a shot at goal, the GK makes a save but the ball comes loose. Brayton Taylor is in the right spot to finish the attack with a goal, 0-3. Ten minutes later, Bennett Parker pushes a ball smoothly into the box to Dennyz Barahona who has no trouble connecting for a 0-4 lead. In the 36th, Brandon Barahona shoots a ball at the Whitko "00/Superman" keeper. The ball comes off his chest in front of Bennett who puts the ball into the net, 0-5. Two minutes before the half, Dennyz crosses a ball into the mix that eventually lands near Toni Lopez who places the ball over the line for the last goal of the first half. Cody Cripe was not extremely busy in the goal but had to make a save and did a fine job in goal. HALF TIME Minor adjustments are made that mainly focus on passing the ball to feet, speeding up the thinking and decision making process and keeping our shape offensively. SECOND HALF Tito Lynn takes the spot between the pipes for half number 2. His first challenge comes 4 minutes into the half when only Whitko's second shot of the game sails towards the Panthers' goal. With no pressure on him from the 40 yard line, Brandon Barahona decides to dribble to near the 28 yard line and takes a shot that flies past Superman -who is a little too far off his line-; the ball goes into the upper right 90 for the 0-7 lead. Brayton Taylor adds an assist to his goal when he places a nice pass into Toni Lopez' feet who places the ball behind the Whitko keeper, 0-8. The game now starts to turn into the Brayton Taylor show. A 72nd minute corner turns into a half inswinger that gets mishandled by the Whitko keeper, who slaps it in the goal for a Taylor goal (his 2nd), 0-9. In the 74th both Bennett and Brayton hit the crossbar, Beebe Carter almost puts in his third near post but it goes over and the last action of the day comes from Brayton, who slices thru the Wilcat defense like a hot knife thru butter and finds himself one on one with the goalie and decides to put it in with seconds to spare in the game for the final score 0-10. NOTES Easy win Tuesday but the story will be much different for the first home game Thursday when Elkhart Central pays us a visit. JV start at 5 pm, to be followed by the Varsity at 6:45 pm. Today's practice will commence early (2:45 ) and we should be done by 4:45.

Gameday 1

The Varsity will leave the AC around 3:30 pm to travel to South Whitley to play the Whitko Wildcats. It will be first game of the season for both teams. NorthWood will be able to field a healthy squad today.

Argos Tourtnament draw

The Argos Invitational will take place on Saturday 9/14/13. At 1 pm Argos will face John Glenn. At 3 pm we will play versus the Indianapolis Herron Achaeans (Ancient Greek lovers will enjoy this game). The losers of the first two games will meet in a 6 pm contest and the Championship game will commence at 8 pm.

Gameday 1 information

Tuesday August 20th, 2013 the Varsity will travel to South Whitley to play the Whitko Men's soccer team. This game will be played at a different location then the inaugural game versus the Wildcats in 2011. This year's game will be played at Whitko High School at 1 Big Blue Avenue, South Whitley IN. You can scan the QR code to your smartphone for directions. South Whitley is about 42 miles from NorthWood and should take less then an hour. The game starts at 5 pm. See you there!

2013 NorthWood Men's Soccer Alumni Game

27 former players and the current coaching staff "played" a game that excluded a lot of midfield transition and included a lot of long ball attacking. It was great to see a lot of the players -even some who showed up and watched the game- from just about every year we have been coaching (17 years!).

2013 Car Wash

The 2013 Car Wash was a success. Nearly 100 cars were giving a bath and some even looked better after the boys got done with it.

Reminders for week 2

The deadline for ordering team wear on the bsnsports.com website(go to my team shop and enter the code)is today, Monday August 12. Please order today if you haven't done so. The site will close after today. Deliveries will be made to the High School in 4-6 weeks. Coach Duerksen will let the players know when the items are in.Also, this coming Thursday, August 15, the alumni game will take place at the game field at 6 pm. This game will be followed by the red-black intra squad scrimmage. You can come and watch the players in the scrimmage and if you want, take pictures with them after the game. The red-black game will start around 7 pm. This game gives a lot of players their first opportunity to play on our own home field. For the coaching staff it is an opportunity to evaluate the players and try out the lights and scoreboard at the home pitch. The first Varsity game of the season is Tuesday August 20th vs. Whitko. This is an away game and is slated to kick off at 5 pm. The first home game of the season is against Elkhart Central on August 22nd. The JV game will start at 5 pm, the Varsity at 6:45 pm.

Week 2

Week 1 of the 2013-2014 was busy to say the least. Starting two a days, splitting teams, getting team pictures done, distributing warm ups and uniforms were just a few of the activities that took place. And then there were of course the actual practices. Thirty players will make up the Varsity and JV rosters. Most of the players and a parent attended the mandatory athletic meeting last Wednesday. On Saturday the annual car wash took place at LJ Wagner's. Nearly one hundred vehicles got liquid attention from the players and coaches. Speaking of coaches, Seth Douwsma (former NW and Indiana Wesleyan player) is the newly hired JV head coach and Kyle Dijkstra helped out as Goalkeeper coach. Welcome aboard to both of them. Kyle will be goimng to IU Bloomington so he will help out this week but after that we will probably only see him sporadically. Today marks day 1 of week #2 and all practices are now from 3:30-5:30 pm Monday thru Friday. Typically, the practices will be at the High School. The only exception is the day before a home game; on those days, the Varsity will reluctantly practice at the game field. The coaching staff wants to thank LJ Wagner's for allowing us to use their parking lot and water for the car wash. We would also like to think all the parentsw who donated soap, sponges, towels etc. for the car wash. We also appreciate Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Eschelman and Mrs. Taylor for volunteering to be our Captain's Club representatives this season. We also want to thank the returning letterman for helping us out Friday to get the game field ready. The dugouts are clean and back in place. With only 6 days of practices remaining, the first game will be here before you know it.