Concord-NorthWood 1-0 (0-0)

FIRST WALK OUT OF THE SEASON After lightning speed team introductions, the Concord announcer plays a (almost complete)fast rendition of our National Anthem.The game turns out to be a tyical NLC battle. The Panthers gets the first chance at a goal when Luis places a far ball into the box off a corner but Dom's header misses to the left of the goal. A collision in the 11th requires Luis to come off the pitch so he can insert a nasal tampon to stop the nosebleed. The Minutemen threaten for the first time in the 14th when an attack and ensuing cross followed by a shot from the left hits the post. In the 18th the ref misses a blatant Concord keeper foul when he trucks thru Carlos after the keeper mishandles a cross inside the box. The halftime score is 0-0. The second half starts with a nice pass from Solomon to Dom who goes one on one with the keeper, but the Concord backstop makes a great save with his feet to prevent the Panthers from scoring. A hard low Concord cross in the 55th finds some green feet and thru a melee of players, the shot ends up in the back of the net. Despite a shot in the 69th by Sol as well as Dom -both requires save from the Concord GK-, the Panthers are unable to find the back of the net. In the last two minutes of the game, NW gets two more opportunities off free kicks near the box but the efforts fall short. Final score 1-0. Overall, the Panthers played well and organized, played even or better than their opponent for the first 60 minutes after which the Minutemen dictated play for about 20 minutes (after their goal). Despite the loss, it was a good performance overall. We did not execute on the chances we created. Our defense, lead by a flawless playing Aiden Greenlee, was very organized. Concord's strength is their individual play and is at times hard to defend. We dealt with it pretty good overall. Next up is the NorthWood Invitational this Saturday (Varsity only). I will post more information on this on Thursday. NOTES- The JV loses 2-0 to Concord but played a Concord team loaded with juniors and a senior GK. There will likely be a film session at 2:30 today before the start of practice. Film session is for Varsity only and a message will be sent on Remind. Practices are at Wellfield Park the remainder of the week.