NorthWood plays in its third Argos Invitational, the first year the tournament was won and last year Argos beat us 4-3 with a late goal. In the first game of the tournament, Argos easily beats Glenn 5-1.In the second game NorthWood is listed as the away team, Herron (Indianapolis) as the home team. It takes mere seconds (39 to be precise)for Brayton Taylor to find Bennet Parker near the Achaeans woodwork. Bennett doesn't hesitate and quickly puts the first goal on the scoreboard. Beebe plays a ball over the top of the defense in the 5th to Brandon Barahona (or Barone if you want to belive the tournament announcer) who places the ball in the left corner, 2-0. NorthWood plays up tempo pressure which in turn gives them possession of the ball the majority of the time. In the 16th, a very nice Isaac Bowser pass again finds Brandon Barahona who goes one on one at the keeper and with a lot of composure, puts the ball in the net for a very comfortable 3-0 lead. Only one minute later, Brayton shoots at the Herron goal and the keeper misjudges the velocity of the shot and dives over the ball, 4-0. Herron scores its first goal off a free kick (bad weak side marking)in the 29th, 4-1. This score does not change until the second half. NorthWood plays well in the high pressure 4-3-3 and continues to do so in the second act. The coaches get a nice compliment from the very polite Argos ballboy :"nice uniforms coach", exactly the type of comment we have been waiting for. In the 56th, Brandon crosses to Bennett Parker who heads the ball over the Herron GK to put us ahead 5-1. While Herron #23 absorbs a soccer ball in a delicate location, the continuation of play from Beebe goes to Brayton. Brayton's shot hits the ropes for a nice 6-1 lead. All 19 players play in this game. Herron threatens sporadically but in the 65th, a breakthrough turns into their second goal. Coach Duerksen puts Beebe in a forward slot and after a couple of tries, his first and NorthWood's 7th goal determine the final score at 7-2 for a spot in the 8 pm finals versus host Argos. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................In the 6pm game, Glenn defeats Herron 3-0. ................................................................................................................................................................................Before the start of the night cap, we notice we have the same officiating crew as last year. The entire crew is from Argos, two of them -the Overmeyer brothers- played for Argos. They had a poor performance last year and should have paid their way in since they seemed to be more like supporters of the club as opposed to being independent and fair officials. The hope is that this year would be different. But it becomes evident very, very early on that this is merely a repeat performance from last year. For a full 80 minutes, hardly any Argos foul gets called (deep into the second half we only had 5 calls going our way) and almost anytime an Argos Dragon comes in contact with a NW player, a free kick is awarded. From the start, NW plays a nice high pressure which results in some opportunities. In the 8th, a nice build up and cross to Dennyz gives us our first opportunity but his shot misses the frame. In the 19th, an Argos cross lands in front of #10 Binkley who quickly takes a hard shot on goal from a small right angle. The shot flies by Cody and hits the far side net, 1-0. Josh Overmeyer, the center ref, is calling home to make sure they make room for another trophy on the mantel. In the 35th Dennyz receives a pass in the box but his ensuing shot rolls left of the goal over the endline. In the 39th, Argos scores the second goal of the half. NW keeps playing hard and never stops working hard and still creates plenty of opportunities (3 great ones in the first half alone). Much of the same in half number two. A lot of pressure, never stopping and still able to create several chances. The passing is crisp, decision making is superb most of the time, goalkeeping is timely. All in all, the best overall performance of the year. Argos is a good team (semi state finalist last year)and the match itself is entertaining. The only negative is the pathetic officiating. Right before the second goal, Argos #7 commits a very obvious pushing foul on Bennett but it is not called and the conclusion of the play results in the afforementioned 2-0. Decisions like that are very unfortunate to say the least. All in all, NorthWood has two good performances in two full games in one day. 160 minutes of pressure takes a lot out of a player. Coaches are happy with the way we play both games and if the workrate stay at this level, the results will come.
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