NorthWood-LaPorte 2-1 (1-0)

Another beautiful night for soccer and for once the National Anthem rendition does not encounter issues. Actually quite the opposite; our own (injured) Mason Mast sings it and does so quite well. As a matter of fact, Mason will be back singing the Star Spangled Banner at Senior Night as well! With the student council sponsoring a tailgate and the U14 Pumas and their parents getting in free, attendance is the highest for the season. The stands are full and the "front row" is full with folding chairs. It is the highest attendance since last year's Northridge game. And the student section will constantly rear its pretty head to support the Panthers! FIRST HALF- It starts with a bang and almost a goal. A pass to Landon Parker ends with his shot that requires the first of many saves by the Slicers keeper. In the 9th Juan Pantoja finds Sebastian Guillen who also takes a crack at goal also finding the LaPorte GK in his way. The save results in a corner. The corner also gets to Sebastian who heads the ball towards the goal. His effort requires a LaPorte defender to save the ball off the line with his head. We dominate play, combine easily and keep pressing. In the 15th, the Panthers take another corner. The lower ball in comes off Sebastian near Brock who pokes the ball over the line for the 1-0 lead. Four minutes later, Andre serves Jerson who, in turn, delivers the ball to Juan. Juan is now one on one with the keeper. Juan's shot gets saved once again by the LaPorte keep, who singlehandedly, keeps the Slicers in the game. In the 36th, Marius Ley takes a long distance shot which also requires some magic from the keeper. HALF TIME- Only some minor adjustments are discussed that deal with having to work harder when we lose the ball and making a delay on free kicks to see what opens up. SECOND HALF- After getting many chances in the first, the feel of the start of the second is different. We are losing a bit of the control of the game. Especially after about four minutes into the second act, LaPorte attacks and when Micah Pippinger comes out to get the ball, he just can't get to it enough. The ball comes free and gets passed to the middle of the box. With Micah being played out to the side, an easy pass at the goal from a LaPorte midfielder changes the score to 1-1. In the 49th, a long range hard shot from LaPorte finds the crossbar after Micah gets a hand on it. LaPorte takes more control of the game and we play a bit on our heels. As we regain our composure, the battle goes back and forth. At times it feels that the game is being played without any officials as hardly anything gets called. Pushes in the back are allowed, challenges from behind are no issue either. In the 62nd, Trent Edwards takes an unexpected shot at the LaPorte frame from about 24 out. The keeper needs to tip the ball over the bar to deny Trent a goal. Things get interesting in the 78th minute. A shot at the Slicers goal gets caught by the keeper. Sebastian runs by the keeper (in case he would the drop the ball as he had numerous times during the match). As Sebastian goes by the keeper, he gets pushed by a defender while the Keep raises his elbow. Sebastian goes down in the goal. The center ref stops play and the clock and confers with his AR's. The AR by the stands has the best angle on the play and advises the center ref that this foul in the box should result in a PK. Landon picks the ball up and puts it on the spot. He blasts the ball to the keepers right with all the confidence in the world, for the 2-1 lead. The Panthers are able to keep LaPorte off their half in the last 95 ticks. NorthWood is able to entertain a large crowd and come away with a win despite some controversy at the end. We have been on the other end of these calls way too many times that it feels good to finally see things break our way. The Panthers are 6-2 on the season. NOTES- The JV defeats LaPorte 2-0 (Marius and Kaden goals) and they are 4-2. Both teams travel to Warsaw tonight. JV has 5 pm kick off, the Varsity starts at 6:45 pm. We are in the middle of a tough couple of weeks with many tough games in a short period of time. Mason is day to day and Kyle Luster returns tonight after having to sit out last nights game with a one game suspension (undeserved red from Saturday's game). SOme other players picked up some knocks last night but are hopefully close to a hundred percent tonight. Thanks again to all Panther soccer fans and a big sout out to the NW student section for being our 12th player last night!