# 13 (2A)NorthWood - (# 16 (3A) Goshen 1-0 (0-0)

After giving up two goals in the first half, the JV locks down defensively to give up only one more the rest of the way. The Goshen JV is a very solid and technical team. Both teams are in the A Flight in Saturday's JV Invite . If they face off again, NW might have a shot of reversing today's final result. The main event of the night is the match up of two NLC opponents who are both ranked in their respective classes. Technically, Goshen is always one of the best teams in the area. The Panthers have a couple of players who are under the weather; Cam Iwema is still too sick to play and now Trent Edwards has come down with something as well and before the game it is unclear if Trent is able to play the entire game. Fortunately, Trent takes the field and not only does he not have to come off, he plays a terrific game. A lot of times, Goshen threatens up his side but he shuts the Redhawk offense down time and time again. Being a defender is a thankless jobs. There are very little stats for defenders but their mistakes are magnified when they give up the ball near the 18 and the opponent takes the ball right at us. But tonight the entire defensive is playing well. Central defenders Skyler Duerksen and Nick Lechlitner are strong all night and never shy away from physical confrontation. Add to that that both are strong in the air as is Trent and you have the making of a good defensive unit. And to make it even better, Marshall Beebe, on the left, comes out tonight having to battle Goshen attacks up his side the entire first half. And he defends well, very well. With Trent not feeling 100%, Coach Duerksen has told Trent to not go up the side as much as normal and instead has told Marhsall to do that on the left.In the 7th, one of those runs starts in the back and ends about 20 out from the Goshen goal but the attack is dangerous. In the 16th, a NW free kick is taken by Andre DeFreitas. It is well exececuted and finds the feet of Sebastian Guillen. His decent shot requires a save from the Goshen GK. At our tactical session the day before, we discussed defensive organization and how it should be structured. It is obvious from the first whistle that the session was well understood. It becomes very clear when Trent stops another Redhawk attack in the 20th and we pass the ball out of the back to launch another counter attack. The Goshen bench is verbally frustrated about being unable to penetrate the Panther defense no matter how and from which side they try it. Michael Hahn and Jerson Sanchez are very disciplined and stay central as does Andre in the number 10 position. Sebastian Guillen and Chandler Bontrager play their outside midfield positions to perfection tonight as well as they stay connected with the holding and defensive center mids. Kayden Newcomer makes lively runs to keep the Goshen defense off balance. And then there is Andrew Graber. He not only makes geat saves all night but plays an intelligent game of soccer in his box. Slowing the game down when it is necessary and speeding it up when we have great opportunities up top. In the 38th, Andrew launches a ball up the right flank to Sebastian. Sebastian bring the high punt down in one touch and passes to Jerson. In turn, Jerson crosses to Andre in the box. Andre's header misses the frame but the attack and build up is a good example on how quick NW can go from defense to offense. This quick transition style of play suits us well. We work on it a lot and we can play this style because we have skilled players who can execute a quick counter. A minute before the half a NorthWood corner bounces around in the box and eventually ends up in the goal but it is called back for a supposed foul on the Goshen backstop. The halftime speech is a positive one. Goshen is frustrated as they are unable to penetrate our defense. But we need to make sure we do more of the same in the second half. Our effort has been great, the game plan execution has been good and the communication in the back has been excellent. But it is 40 minutes of it and we need another 40. Coach Duerksen starts the Panthers the same way as in half one. The coaching staff discusses a change suggested by Kyle, to have Sebastian play the holding midfielder position and to have Kayden go right mid and move Jerson to the striker position. About 6 minutes into the half, Coach Duerksen makes the changes. A dangerous Goshen attack in the 47" finds one of their three attackers near the box. A quick turn away from our central defense gives the striker an opportunity to shoot. A great shot requires an even greater save by Graber (truly earning his newly acquired nickname "Grabber"). In the 57th, NW gets to take a free kick from far out from the left side of the field. The intentional Goshen foul means that this is a direct free kick. With an over load on the backside for the Panthers, Andre has a good target but also wants to put the ball on the frame. The target seems to be the tall Trent Edwards. The hard hit ball flies at the goal, Trent gets close and the keeper is not sure if it is a shot at the goal or if Trent will redirect it with a header. Trent does not and the ball flies into the net for a NW goal; 1-0! NW almost scores again a minute later when Andre takes another free kick. This time he picks out Jerson whose header is saved by the Goshen GK. From the 59th to the 73rd, it is all Goshen as they start to put NW under pressure and try to force the equalizer. Great defense and even better organization and shape get us through this 14-15 minute period. Joey Eshelman relieves midfielders and applies pressure on the outside. Everyone who makes it onto the field plays well. It is a collective effort to prevent the Redhawks from tying the match.Nick Lechlitner prevents a couple of Goshen attacks from making it past him with his signature tackles (actions especially appreciated by color commentator Ryan Mattern who in his day tackled some). A nice 73rd minute 1-2 between Jerson and Sebastian ends with a nice Sebastian shot. The attack relieves some of the Goshen relentless attacks. The last 7 minutes of the game is a nail biting experience but the Panthers hold on to the lead and defeat an highly skilled and respected 16th ranked team in 3A for a win. The first win against Goshen, as Kyle reminds us, since 2011 (when his team defeated Goshen by the same score). A job well done. The Panthers are now 10-2 (!!) on the season and 3-2 in NLC. This is a team with a lot of talent and promise, and to quote Coach Duekrsen: "let's just keep this train moving". Also a shout out to some behind the scenes people important to the program. Jeff Iwema is in charge of the hydration and video department which is much appreciated and Randy Cripe does an excellent job announcing. Thanks to both. Also thanks to Froggy 102.7 FM and Ron Bedward, Craig Wallin and our own color commentator Ryan Mattern. Today we will meet in Duerksen's room to just go over some game video and will then call it a day. Time to physically recover. We will be back on the practice field Monday. JV will practice today in light of the tournament at Goshen tomorrow. The JV's first game will be at 9 am at Goshen.