2020 Season about to kick off

With just a few days left to prepare for the first match, the Panthers will spend the next few days on the turf. With the most difficult of starts, NW will take on Northridge on Thursday and will travel to Concord Saturday. The Panthers are ranked #9 in the pre-season poll, the highest ranking it has ever received but now it is getting close to the time to prove we are worthy of the expectations. So far the preparations for the 2020 season have been difficult at times due to the fact that we were not allowed to have full contact in the beginning, were then allowed after several weeks, to oractice with full contact only to have that rule change again. But for about a week now, we are back at normal practices and the focus has been on conditioning, getting back in the game rythm and tactics. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions in ELkhart County, we have had to cancel the NorthWood Invite last weekend and so, the season starts almost a week later than normal. Northridge will play its first game tonight at Bethany and will have a slight advantage by having a game under their belt when they take the pitch at NW Thursday. There will spectator restrictions at each venue. Coach Duerksen will send some of those out on Remind for away games and for home games, the information can be found on gonwpathers.com . Tickets for the first home game can be bought online at the gonwpanthers.com website. There is a "Buy Tickets" button you can click on next to the upcoming home game. If sold out, you can sit outside the fence and watch the game but behind the goals the windscreens might obstruct your view. If you watch the game while facing south (so if you are on the north side of the field), please remember to turn off your head lights. The home opener starts with a 5 pm JV start which is followed by the Varsity game around 6:45 pm.