#20 NorthWood- Mishawaka 9-0 (5-0)

A day late but hopefully not a dollar short. The weather cooperates as we take the field. The new windscreens are up and welcome the spectators to NW Soccer and at the same time forcing all those watching games to do so from the west side of the pitch. The Cavemen have a keeper who seems sponsored by Pepto Bismol. The Panthers start attacking right from the kick off and end up with three quick corners. The second one from Luis sees Carlos' header bounce off the crossbar. Soloman gets his first assist of the night when he serves Grant who in turn, finishes a shot to the right side of the Mishawaka goal for a very early (4") NW lead. In the 8th, Grant is part of the action again when he gets tripped in the box. The arbiter points to the 12 and Gifton is selected to take the PK. He makes no mistake and has Randy Cripe put the "2" on the scoreboard. Two minutes later we score again when Alex heads the ball to Sol who smoothly passes the keeper, 3-0! When it rains, it pours. The 13th minute is a very unlucky one for the Cavemen. Solomon gets ahold of the ball in the box, takes a shot on the frame but it gets saved by the pink high lighter but he doesn't hold on to the ball. Maddox slots the loose ball into the goal, 4-0. In the same minute, Andrew Myers crosses from the right flank and finds Sol who one touches it into the ropes, 5-0. We get everyone in the game tonight and everyone gets significant minutes. We realize this might be a a shortened game if we put 9 on the board but the scoring gets stuck at 5 from minute 13 until minute 60. We start the second half with color coordinated ball boys. In the 48th, Gifton fouls a Mishawaka attacker. Gif gets a yellow caution and the free kick is a good one, by far Mishawaka's best offensive effort of the night. It requires Trace (who came in for Trent in the second act) to make a save, and a good one it is. He tips the ball over the goal. We finally get our rear ends back in gear when Wes Bell threatens from outside the box and takes a nice curling away dipping shot that has the Mishawaka keeper make his best save of the night. 120 ticks later, Andrew Myers gets back into the action with a nice assist to Luis inside the 18. Luis slots the ball decisively into the left corner and signs for the 6-0 lead. In the 63rd, Landon passes to Sol whose shot finds the net, 7-0. Dom, who had come in the game around the 59th, worked well defensively and sped up tha game offensively, delivers a ball to Andrew Myers who scores his first goal and 4th point of the night. With 11 minutes left, Dom's free kick from the left side gets touched by Jack for our 9th goal which also automatically signifies the end of the game (IHSAA mercy rule) so we can all go home early and rest up for the next game which kicks off in less than 24 hours after the conclusion of this one.

SECOND HALF "ACTION" - GIFTON FINALLY PUTS HIS CLEATS BACK ON AFTER PLAYING FOR SEVERAL MINUTES WITH WITH ONE SHOE.