NorthWood-Northridge 1-2 (1-2)

With the stands about filled to capacity and additional spectators crowding the area around the bleachers with folding chairs, the NorthWood Panthers get ready to measure themselves against their first NLC opponent and not an easy one at that. The Raiders field a Varsity that has 9 seniors starting tonight's contest. Northridge sports a deceiving 1-1-1 record (4-1 win over Bethany Christian, a 0-0 draw vs. Penn and a 3-2 loss to Elkhart Central)coming into tonight's game.FIRST HALF- Both teams try to settle in to the game with Northridge dictating play early on. The Raiders attack over the flanks and bring numbers up the middle. Defensively we struggle in the first minutes of the match. In the 7th minute, a hard NR shot forces Cody to dive to his right and he stops the effort but is unable to corral the ball. The rebound lands in front of Northridge's #13 (Tre Marvel) who makes no mistake and kicks the ball into the net for a 0-1 early lead. It takes the Panthers a while to settle down after the goal and most passes are not very accurate. Play gets a little chippy and the result is a 19th minute foul that results in a yellow caution for Kyle Luster. Two minutes later, the Raiders score their second goal when a midfielder goes thru the NW defense and scores on Cody but another Northridge attacker is deemed off side as he is considered involved in play so the goal is disallowed. The score remain 0-1. Northridge's # 6 (Blyly) complains about everything and everybody which aggravates just about everyone including coach Duerksen who in an effort to help the guy says "I got a Kleenex here for you Buddy!!!". In the 31st NR #20 Zach Yoder goes by Dylan Weldy (the player, not the manager) and at our keeper and puts the ball into the goal for a 0-2 lead. Despite being down two goals, NorthWood starts to play better. In minute 38, a pass to the right wing lands in front of Landon. With a really nice slip pass, he reaches Eli Aukerman. The older Auky goes into the box and at the keeper. With a move to his right, Eli goes around the GK and goes towards the empty goal. He makes no mistake and cuts the NR lead in half, 1-2 9great composure!).HALF TIME- Overall the first half performance is decent but we need to decrease the defensive mistakes, make better passes and play tougher. Coach Duerksen points out the fact that NR goes wide and bring numbers in the middle. Hopefully the adjustment will make it easier to defend NR attacks. SECOND HALF- Despite the fact that neither team scores another goal in the second half, the game turns out be one of the most entertaining ones we have seen at our home field. It certainly was one of our best defensive performances in a long time. Because we defend a lot, our counter attacks are important but unfortunately, we are unable to score another goal. Our midfield and defense play a fantastic second half and do not allow another NR goal. Dylan, Kyle, Josh, Jadon and Mason play, as coach Duerksen put it, like men! Brock comes in to relieve Mason and does a great job. Juan is a box to box workhorse. Eli does a nice job in center midfield and Landon, Lucas and Kyle work hard in the middle and do their job very well. Jaron works his rear end off, gets a couple of little opportunities and gets off a couple of shots (one of them a laser). All our subs do a nice job; Micah -our utility player who can play ALL positions-, Trent, Jerson and Skyler all come in and get minutes. Never does the level of play drop which says a lot for the entire team. Cody keeps a clean sheet in the second half and makes a couple of unbelievable saves. All in all, we play well and we show what we are capable of doing. Now we just need to continue this level of play on a consistent basis. Tonight we put in a great performance (especially in the second half) and if we can do this consistently, we can become a great team. NOTES: The JV plays its first game of the season and gets the same end result as the Varsity be it in a different manner however. The JV ties the score 1-1 (Jerson goal) but then gets scored on again. The play was pretty good especially considering that it was our first JV game of the season. Undoubtedly, we will get some wins soon. The Varsity record stands at 2-1-0, The JV at 0-1-0. During the varsity game, the center ref seemed distracted by some off the field situations such as a photographer not being where he should be and some parked cars having headlights turned on that needed turned off but other then that, the men in blue did a pretty good job overall. Next up: Away game at Concord (tomorrow, Saturday 8/27) with a 10 am JV start and a 11:45 Varsity kick off.