Elkhart Christian - NorthWood 2-6 (0-3)

A flashback to Chrysler's bad decade pops in mind when you "enter" the Eagles' Talon field but they do a good job distracting me from that thought when I see the "ticket booth" and the infamous press box (pictures of the ticket booth and pressbox will be added later). Team introductions are a little shaky as we apparently now field a Durkskin and Gillen. FIRST HALF- In the first seconds of the game, the Panthers neglect to put the ball up the field and instead lose it in their own defensive third. ECA gets the first opportunity of the night but is unable to score in their first and only one on one on Micah who has to come into action a little earlier then he thought he would have to. It is obvious that we are the better team and we show it in the third minute when Juan finds Landon on the left flank. Landon goes at goal and very decisively puts the ball on the ground and past the keeper for the early 0-1 lead. Juan does not wait long to dish out the next assist. In the 6th, he serves the ball to Sebastian (Gillen for ECA fans) and C-Bass goes around one defender and then slots the ball in the goal for the 0-2. In the 9th, Sebastian is the recipient of a Landon Parker pass. C-Bass slaloms thru the soft butter ECA defense and finds the net again, 0-3. All eyes are on Sebastian as we are hoping for a pure hattrick (3 goals by one player in one half without anyone else scoring between the three goals) but instead, the game turns into a sloppy halfhearted effort. It looks as if we know we are going to win and try to extend the lead with about half the work effort that is needed. No more goals are scored in the half. HALF TIME- The half time talk focuses partly on missed opportunities in switching the ball from one side to the other. The work rate is discussed as well. SECOND HALF- The second act continues the way the first one ended. Sloppy kick ball with little structure. In the 60th, the Eagles expose a NW weakness; defending set pieces. A high corner is not defended well and ends up in the ropes, 1-3. ECA gains confidence and a far attempt to lob the ball over Micah requires Pipp to jump and tip the ball over (great save!). We do not learn our lesson from the first corner goal as we let ECA take one into the box without marking an upcoming MF(min 64). The header goes in and all of a sudden our lead has shrunk to just one goal. It takes about 6-7 minutes for NW to compose themselves. In the 74th, senior Juan Pantoja has seen enough and decides to put the team on his back. He slices and dices thru about 4 defenders and with frustration kicks the ball hard and low. His effort finds the net, 2-4. In the 78th, Trent Edwards crosses the ball from the right flank. Juan heads the ball at the far post to extend the lead to 2-5. With one minute left to play, Sebastian plays a nice ball in from the right, Landon Parker dummies the ball and the ball gets to Andre. What looks to be a chance to score seems to end up in a missed opportunity when the ball goes to far to the left but Andre maintains possession, goes by a defender and from an impossible angle places the ball past the keeper and over the line for the final score; 2-6. We played well the first ten minutes and we played well the last ten minutes. We recovered from a scare in the middle of the game and boarded the bus with a win. We will need to play better overall as a team against our next two opponents as they are from a different caliber then ECA. Micah kept us in the game a couple of times, Trent was dangerous the few times he went up the wing, Lucas played well and used his speed, Andre did a nice job and ended up with a goal (always a nice bonus for a MF) and Juan decided it was time to take over the game. So, all in all, there are positives as well. Landon scored which is what a forward does and Sebastian did the same, twice! On to another game Tuesday night (at Memorial). NOTES- The JV beat Penn (!!) 3-2 with 3 goals for Kaden Newcomer and 3 assists by our own wiener schnitzel, Marius Ley. The bus leaves at 3:45 today. JV game at5 pm, Varsity at 6:45 pm. The weather will have cleared up by then so we hope to see everyone there for this NLC matchup.