Monday, August 27, 2018
Concord-NorthWood 2-0 (2-0)
Another Match Day where the opponent is a 3A ranked team. This time we travel the short distance to Dunlap to play 3A #13 Concord. During the National Anthem we notice that Noah's heart is on the opposite side from the rest of us. The JV and Varsity starts are pushed back by an hour in order to allow about 4 Concord players and Kyle Luster to take their SAT's and still play some of the game. FIRST HALF - The Panthers have to do without Sebastian Guillen who received a red card in the game against Northridge. The game starts out with some back and forth play. In the 7th, Concord scores the first goal of the game after the NW midfield misses a mark coming up the field (video will be used to illustrate the defensive breakdown later this week). Three minutes later, after the Panthers have settled down some, Andre places a thru ball into Parker's feet. His first touch is away from goal but he does get the shot off. His effort misses the right post by only a few centimeters. Luke comes up big all day long. Despite the finger injury (glove was buddy taped), he is able to make a lot of diving stops. In the 23rd minute, Trent goes up for a defensive header in the box. The ball skips off his head and we are just unlucky to have it land right in front of a Concord player who scores the 2-0. Luster shows up in minute 31. HALF TIME- Overall we play well and the main topic of discussion is the organization in the back. SECOND HALF- The Minutemen's keeper punts the ball from outside the box and the referee award NW an indirect free kick on the 81 yard line. Parker touches the ball to Jerson. Jerson's shot is saved saved by the keeper at his right post. In the 60th minute Jerson receives a yellow caution. Minutes before that, Marshall getss the ball in the box and finds himself eye to eye with the keeper in stars and stripes. Marshall tries to chip the falling flag. The keeper saves the effort. Marshall might have had more success had he tried to go around the Concord backstop. Nine fingered Luke makes his final save in the 71st when he comes out on a dangerous Concord cross. The french referee blows his whistle for the final time in the 80th. A game well played by the Panthers and well officiated by the trio of arbiters. The JV loses 3-1. Marshall Beebe scores the lone NW goal. NOTES - The JV falls to 0-2 but is looking pretty good; results will surely come. The Varsity now owns a 2-2-0 record. Next game is tonight (Monday) at Bremen. 
The Varsity in the bleachers during the JV game.
The Varsity in the bleachers during the JV game.
Friday, August 24, 2018
Happy Birthday to the Dutch Touch Blog
To all GFOB: Sunday will be the blogs 11th Birthday. Will probably have to celebrate it!
Match Day 4 **Start Time Change**
No time to worry about what happened yesterday because it is time to prepare for tomorrow. We travel to Concord to take on the Minutemen on their tiny field. The Minutemen are 3-0-1 with wins against Penn, South Bend Adams and Wawasee and a tie against Mishawaka Marian. The #18 Panthers (2A) play a good #13 Concord (1A). The game time for both JV and Varsity have been changed. The JV game will start at 11 am and the Varsity match kicks off at 12:45 pm. The bus will leave the High School at 10 am from the Pain Palace. The Positive Take: We will play on a small field but it will be in better shape then our home turf and odds are the officiating will be better. The Negative Take: No Sebastian.....
Soccer is known for the "wave" but you've never seen the field doing it....until now
#worstfieldinthemidwest
NorthWood-Northridge 0-5 (0-2)
After scouting Northridge, the game plan has been discussed for days. An unlucky (read - awful field) bounce means a ball doesn't get cleared paving the way for a quick 2nd minute attack from the Raiders resulting in an early goal. In the 23rd, the Raiders find the back of the net again for the 0-2 HT score. Coach Duerksen gets a yellow caution for an improperly equipped player (no shin guards - Brock Hilty). Soon after a 56th minute NR goal, Sebastian tries to get the ball in the middle of the field off a NR player's foot. The tackle earns him a red card. The "foul" is not even worthy of a yellow. About 15 more serious fouls (the majority NR fouls) are going unpunished throughout the game and then this one gets a straight red. The sad part is that the center ref changes his story of the reason for the red (first narrative is that Sebastian had committed four fouls total and the second was that "he was going for the opponent's Achilles"). When the Raiders #8 throws an elbow in Jerson's face in the 75th, it takes the AR to tell the center ref that that deserves a card but #8 only gets a yellow. The fifth goal comes in the 79" when the Panthers are down to 10 men. On this beautiful night weather wise, the stands are packed with hundreds of fans. Unfortunately the Panthers are unable to come up with a result despite battling hard. It does not help to have an incompetent arbiter and the worst field in Northern Indiana. The boys battle hard and that same fight will be needed tomorrow when we play at Concord. Sebastian will have to sit this one out due to the red card. NOTES - Today's practice is from 3:30-4:30 at the High School. Tomorrow's games are at 10 am (JV) and 11:45 (V). The JV lost their first game of the season to Northridge 0-2. The Varsity is now 2-1-0. Concord is 3-0-1.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Match Day 3
It looks like we are going back in time. The field can not even handle 1.25 inches of rain as you can see by this picture from yesterday. Hopefully today's sun will dry the field out for the Class 1 # 19 Northridge Raiders when they come rolling into Nappanee with their undefeated 4-0-0 record to take on the Class 2 # 18 NorthWood Panthers (2-0-0). With wins against Penn, Central, LaPorte and Bethany Christian, the Raiders have shown to have a potent offense (20 goals scored and given up 4). The Panthers have had a good week of practice and need to work hard to get a result. The Panthers have the entire squad available as we do not have any injuries. This will be the Varsity's first NLC match up and it will be the JV's first game of the season. The JV will try and beat their own season best result (8-4-2) by starting with beating NR tonight. This could very well be the best JV squad ever! The preparation for both teams has been good; it is now up to the players...............Game time boys!!!!!!!!!
I would like to credit the person who created this........
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Today's training
Practice today will be at the High School practice field. Typically we try and practice at the game field the day before a home game but since the girls games were canceled last night due to the field conditions, it would be wise to stay off the field and give it 48 hours to dry out before tomorrow night's game. The field is in bad shape, it looks bad, it plays bad and it is doubtful anyone will do anything to improve it since supposedly it is our third year in a row that it will be the final year we play at Nappanee Elementary School.
Monday, August 20, 2018
NorthWood ranked in 2A ISCA Poll
The Indiana Soccer Coaches Association ranks NorthWood at #18 for the 2A Boys soccer class (week of 8/20/18).
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Impressions of a Saturday morning in Angola
PRE GAME
LUKE WORKING ON DISTRIBUTION BEFORE THE GAME
WE WILL BE BACK!!!!
Angola-NorthWood 0-2 (0-0)
Matchday 2 equals road trip #1. As the bus pulls out a little after 8 on the way to Angola, it turns into an extended Amish Country scenic tour. Because of road closures we arrive a little late. We warm up on the practice field due to the wet condition of the game field.In front of a nice size crowd of NW supporters we kick of a little after 10 for the first real challenge of the season.FIRST HALF- It starts early on in the third minute when a Sebastian header pass finds Landon who finds himself going at the Hornet stopper for the first (but not last NW) 1v1. The Parker shot goes for the high left corner but gets tipped by the GK for a corner. The Angola keeper will make a lot of saves this morning. In the 10th, Andre takes a free kick from 40 yards and his effort finds Sebastian's head. His header finds the keeper's hands to prevent Sebastian from adding to his goal total. Six minutes later, Kayden -who had just stepped inside the lines- finds himselg going 1v1 at the keeper after a nice thru ball. His shot at the keep gets stopped as well. In the 19th, Jerson slots a ball to Sebastian who goes in the box for the NW third 1v1 of the game. His attempt is directed directly at the keeper.....still no goal! A NW cross straight into the box is missed by the keeper and finds Sebastian's head but he is unable to direct it on the frame. With plenty of chances and about 80% of the possession, most of it on the Angola half, it seems it is only a matter of time before we put in the first goal.HALF TIME- Only some minor adjustments are discussed while the work rate of the entire team in general but midfielders in specific is mentioned. A solid performance with some nice soccer so far, now all we need is a goal or two. SECOND HALF- We almost witness the first goal of the game in the first minute of the second half when Angola brings the ball up the field and crosses it in the box. With nearly everyone missing the ball, Angola's top scorer finds himself with the ball on his foot about 4 yards from Luke. His shot to the near post gets stopped by a diving Luke Lingle; a great stop that could have turned the momentum! Fortunately NW takes control of the game again and in minute 43, Sebastian goes around the Hornets left defenders on the flank and crosses the ball as in a training ground drill towards the 6. At the time of the attack both Jerson (in center) and Cam Iwema (on the left flank) made hard runs into the box. Unmarked, they both go at the ball and Jerson, almost over running the cross, gets a first and then a second touch on the ball. The ball rolls in the goal for the 0-1. If the game would have been a crossbar challenge we would have been in fine shape; a long distance screamer from Jerson in the 48" finds the crossbar after a GK tip and Landon's shot in the 51st has the same result. In the 76th it looks like we will add to our lead when Andre places the ball over the top for Landon to run onto the ball. Landon's shot gets saved by the keep. Some physical confrontations seem to get out of hand mainly and probably only due to the fact that the center ref has an unwillingness to use his whistle let alone pull out his assortment of cards. Thanks to the composure of the NorthWood players, seniors specifically, does the match not turn into a mess. We have to wait until the last minute of the game for the next and last goal of the game when Jerson Sanchez decides to go on his own offensive adventure. Jerson circumvents about four Hornets and goes at the keeper and places the ball by him to the keeper's left for what looks to be an easy goal; 0-2. NOTES- The Panthers move to 2-0-0 on the young season while the Hornets fall to 1-2-0. Jerson's leadership and performance earn him the captains arm band for the next game (worn by Lukas Aukerman today for his hard work this week). By the way, Angola is also the site of this year's sectionals. Next up is the home game versus Northridge this coming Thursday. All focus in training this week will be on our next two NLC opponents this week (the aforementioned Northridge and at Concord on Saturday). NorthWood wins as does Chelsea (albeit against Arsenal); so all in all a good Saturday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)