NorthWood - Plymouth 2-1 (2-0)

Senior Night at Wellfield Park means we always have to make adjustments. The warm up is different, announcing the starters and seniors running thru signs is another deviation. Therefore it throws off the routine and one never knows what impact that will have on the game, especially the start of the game. And tonight's game is important for a variety of reasons. First of all, this is an NLC matchup and with a win, we will finish ahaed of Plymouth, Mishawaka and Wawasee respectively. It will then give us some more All NLC spots as well. It also is important to go into the Post Season with some momentum and a win would give us 3 wins and a draw in the last four regular season games.

A nice and noisy crowd -just the way we like it- has selected Wellfield as their spot for entertainment tonight. In attendance tonight are the Principal Mr. Lambert, Asst. Principal Mr. Berg, our Athletic Director AJ Risedorph, Paul Widner, our Athletic Trainer, Randy and Kyle Cripe on the microphone and scoreboard and the Soccer Staff at Michiana Promotions (Ron, Ryan and Phil). Fortunately, NW's soccer players come back strong after a somehwat scary start. The play does go back and forth quite a bit with NW trying to build thru the middle third and the Pilgrims/Rockies (which is it?) mainly looking to attack by sending long balls over their right flank. Casin Truex holds his own on the NW left defense and thwarts most attacks with the help of the outside MF's. The scoring drought ends when Jager Bute serves Trae Brandys into the left side of the box. Trae's consequent dribble towards the goal concludes with a very composed shot into the corner and past the keeper for the 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. The Panthers collect a ball on defense in the 36th and start a counter attack that sees Jager Bute sending the ball to Isaac Bell who in turn serves Lucas Mullett. Lucas is typically in the right spot once he is inside the box and tonight is no exception His finish is sublime and gives NW a 2-0 lead.Even though experts disagree on what the most dangerous lead in soccer is -if there even is such a thing- but in general a 2-0 lead is considered just that. The Half Time discussion is partly strategy and adjustment as well as a warning that Plymouth will come out and attack in order to get a goal and get back into the game. The second act does start with some additional Plymouth pressure and attacks but we weather the storm. The best action off the field occurs when a ball is kicked high and off the field towards the NW dugout. A perfect touch to control is executed by none other then our own Bob Staats (Event Supervisor extraordinaire)as witnessed by the below video -although somewhat hard to see-. He would earn the "honorary play of the match" for his skillfull display of ball touch by Michiana Promotions! The Rockies/Pilgrims ball kickers are apparently not very impressed by Bob's performance because they get the ball and take it upfield right away and take advantage of some lackluster man marking and score the connecting goal to change the scoreboard to 2-1. The Panthers do end up with a couple of good scoring opportunities. In the 71st, Jager dribbles a ball alongside the top of the 18 and takes a shot that hits the crossbar. And the 74th minute of play sees the same Jager go one on one with the Plymouth stopper but his effort to chip the ball over the keeper also sees the ball just go over the woodwork. The last 13 minutes are somewhat nervewrecking but the Panthers hold on to the smallest of margins and cross the finish line with the 2-1 lead. Evander Magana has a stellar performance, especially in the second half and is selected by Michiana Promotions as the Player of the Match. The win propels the Panthers to 8-6-2 (3-4 NLC) and guarantees another winning season!! The JV falls to Plymouth 0-1. Their final record is 5-7-2. The Varsity gets today off and will be back at Wellfield on Thursday (hopefully after the Cubs have advanced to the next round in the NL play offs). Next week Sectionals start that is hosted by NorthWood. Game days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. The schedule for games and ball boys is listed in a post below.