2A #15 NorthWood - 3A #16 Goshen 1-2 (1-1)

Goshen carries a 7-1-3 record into this match with their only loss being to Northridge. They have only been scored on thrice in 11 matches and therefore a momentous task to breakdown the Red Hawks defense. Wellfield Park looks in good shape, the Parks Department groomed the field earlier this week and surely raked some valuables off the pitch. The pressbox is a crowded place tonight with Michiana Promotions doing the broadcast on Froggy. Tecia, Ryan and Ron are taking care of the radio side, Randy has the mic for the announcments and Kyle is in charge of the scoreboard. The game kicks off and from the start it is a back and forth type of game. NW does a decent job at some possession and passing. Our defense and midfeld look organized and it looks like the walk thru offensive and defensive refreshers have done their job (it is a comment we also got from the Goshen Coach that we are very organized defensively). With few opportunities, we have to wait until the 13th when a ball played back to the Goshen keeper is pressured by Sol. He almost gets to the ball but if nothing else, he makes it awkward for the Goshen final defender. Play continues to go up and down with a lot of box to box play. Goshen does start to take a little bit more control of the game and starts to camp out at our box more than we do at their end. In the 32nd, an innocent looking shot gets deflected by one of the NW defenders. Trace was already going to his right and can not change that halfway thru the movement to go the other way. The balls goes across the line for the unfortunate 0-1 Goshen lead. A good change from Tuesday is noticeable when the Panthers go right at the Goshen goal after the kick off. Dom looks comfortable in his new spot and plays the role well distributing balls deep and square.Four minutes after the Red Hawks goal we experience a very nice NW attack that starts in the middle third. When Dom gets the ball, he holds and then passes a accurate ball to Carlos who in turn finds Sol. Sol races at the box with a Goshen defender in hot pursuit on his shoulder but he stays away and is now one on one with the Goshen keeper. But Sol has no problems finishing to tie the game and surpass Brayton on the all time scoring list. Dom and Trace highlight the second half with their efforts. In the 52nd, Dom's free kick requires a tip by the GK onto the crossbar. The ball comes back into play but unfortunately, no NW player is close to put the ball away. Twenty minutes later NW has a corner that is taken by Sol. His corner finds Dom's head. The hard header is saved off the line by a Goshen defender. Two good opportunities that do not go our way. Goshen does control the last part of the second half and even though we defend very well, we do depend on Trace saving our rear ends several times with great saves. When Goshen's #10 does not get shut down near the box, he goes parallel with the 18 and takes a hard shot that is out of Trace's reach, 1-2. All this with just 6 minutes left on the clock. In the 76th, Trace has another great save to prevent a larger Goshen lead. The final is 1-2. We see good performances from all who step inside the lines. It looks like Sebastian has played with us for 4 years instead of 4 weeks. It gives us extra depth in the exhausting wingback positions. Not the result we wanted or were looking for but nonetheless a good demonstration of what we are capable of and surely gives us an idea that with the right work attitude and sticking to our set up and organizational plan, the best is yet to come. The JV loses 0-2 tonight and will prepare for their NLC tournament tomorrow at Goshen (10:30 and 1:30 pm). Friday's practice is on the grass at Wellfield from 3:30-5 pm. Varsity has the weekend off. Varsity is 6-5-1 on the season.