NW-Wawasee - team walk out & press box

Beebe sidelined

Marshall was sick yesterday and did not play, he should be back in action Thursday. Jason Weldy took his spot for most of the game and played well as did Angel Pantoja when he came in for Jason.

NorthWood-Wawasee 5-1 (2-1)

The NW student section comes out in force again (this time with the theme being "America"); "the 12th Man" has been a true supportive and entertaining force this season! The JV starts out an evening of Panthers soccer with a solid 5-1 win with two goals from Joel (Luis & Chase assists), a long distance shot from Aiden Schrock and two goals from Eduard Luna. The JV is 2-1-1; on track maybe for a record season (best ever was an 8-4-2 record, a record that has stood for almost two decades). The traveling Ramirez Referees Family Circus runs the arbitration show tonight. The main event of the evening kicks off after a warning from Coach Duerksen to not be complacent against a winless Warriors squad and to not lose sight of their #4 Pena who for all intent and purposes, is their only threat. But is seems as if some of these words from Coach Duerksen are not absorbed by most. 120 seconds into the game it is that very player, Pena, who dribbles at the NW goal and plunks the ball past Graber for a shocking and surprising 0-1 score. Wawasee somehow manages to play on NW's half but in the 15th, Skyler Duerksen sends a ball in the back over the top, skipping the midfield. The ball finds Kayden Newcomer and he, in turn, finds Andre DeFreitas who calmly places the ball in the goal to tie the game. In the 31st Cam Iwema crosses from the left and finds Joey Eshelman's head. The header is saved by the Warrior's stopper. Two minutes later, Andre finds himself with an opportunity to score but his shot is stopped by the keeper as well. In the 40th Chan assists Andre who with some magical dribble slices thru defenders like a hot knife thru butter and scores the 2-1 right before the tea. A somewhat lackluster and lethargic NW first half comes to an end which will give Coach Duerksen the opportunity to make some much needed adjustments. With little movement off the ball in the first half, the Panthers know to change that part of their game because all that takes is effort. In the 46", Jerson Sanchez shakes off two Wawasee midfielders and takes a wicked shot that disappears in the right upper 90 for a comfortable 3-1 lead. There is much more movement off the ball by the Panthers and the passing is much better as well. Inside the box in the 48th, Andre takes a shot at the goal but hits the woodwork. In the same minute, Joey executes a slick flick pass to Trent Edwards who with a sweet move cuts back inside and takes a shot that nearly misses its target and finds its final destination in the side net. The Warrior who looks like one (with the pink headband) asks "Where is the FIRE!!!!????? Coach Duerksen's answer for him is that the fire is in Jerson's shoes, obviously. With 23 minutes left on the clock, Andre recognizes a nice hard roll up run on the side from Trent. Trent gets the ball and takes it to the end line and crosses it back to Andre who has no problems finishing; 4-1! In minute 60 Sebastian -who has a heck of a game on the left side and is solid all night long- picks a Wawasee pocket and takes the ball all the way from the middle to the box. His shot nearly misses to the left of the post. In the 72nd, Trent Edwards gets another assist with his long throw in this time. The ball finds Cam who does a very nice job of finishing and puts the Panthers ahead by 4; 5-1. Jerson closes the story by grabbing the last two headlines; first, in the 73rd a shot at the frame gets somewhat stopped by the keep but he lets go of the ball and it goes over him and it appears it crosses the line. AR 1 however is not in position to make the call (his effort to get to the end line is pathetic and he looks frozen in place much like the ice cream sold on the other side of the pitch)and he waves off Jerson's effort as a no goal. As the clock goes off in the 80th, Jerson shoots at the goal and the ball finds the net but time has expired so the final remains 5-1. Another NLC victory which puts us at 2-1 in Conference. We are off to a record 6-1 start with a trip to Elkhart Christian on Thursday (7 pm start). This is a Varsity game only but the JV will host Westview on the same day at home at 5 pm.

Gameday 7

Today's game becomes an important one for the Panthers as they will take the field against NLC opponent Wawasee. The Warriors are in the middle of a tough season and currently hold a 0-6-1 record (0-1 in NLC - 0-2 loss to Memorial). The Warriors' #4 Pena is always a threat with his speed, skill and hard shot. And they have nothing to lose. The Panthers want to take the step to the next level this year and another win in conference will be big. We are hoping for another great crowd to support the 5-1 Panthers on what looks to be a summer like night. A good night to take in some Rocket Science Ice Cream and NorthWood Soccer!!! Jv starts at 5 pm and the Varsity match up kicks off at 6:45 !

Busy week ahead....4 games in 6 days!

Tomorrow is already Game Day 7. NW will host Wawasee at home (JV 5/V 6:45)Tuesday 9/10. We will then be on the road for the next four games. First up on the roadtrip is our game vs. Elkhart Christian on Thursday (7pm start Varsity only; the JV will be at home at 5pm that day when they play Westview). Saturday is the Argos Invitational. We will play South Bend Washington at 3 pm and the winner of the first game between Argos and Rochester will play at 8 pm vs the winner of our game. Losers face each other at 6pm. The last game on the road until we return back home against Goshen on 9/19, is the away game at Warsaw on Tuesday 9/17.

Indiana Soccer Coaches Association Poll 9/9/19...... up one spot!

2A ISCA High School Boys Soccer Poll (9/9/19) 1. Memorial (Evansville) 2. Mishawaka Marian 3. Guerin Catholic 4. Washington Community 5. Concordia Lutheran 6. Cardinal Ritter 7. St. Joseph (South Bend) 8. Danville 9. Heritage Hills 10. Western 11. Lawrenceburg 12. Gibson Southern 13. Manchester 14. West Noble 15. NorthWood 16. Leo 17. Brebeuf Jesuit 18. Lebanon 19. Canterbury 20. Delta

Today's practice

Today's practice will be at the High School practice field and it will be a light one that will last from 3:30-4:30.

Busiest man on the field last night

NW Announcer Randy Cripe busy changing the scoreboard and announcing 11 goals last night!

Elbow in the face

Joey took an elbow in the face (nose) against Bremen.

Christmas Vacation = Wellfield Park....to quote the Movie "Shitter is full"

NorthWood - Jimtown 11-0 (7-0)

The game is moved up because of the chance of inclement weather (the threat is all it would be, it turns out) so we actually get to play the game under sunny conditions for a good portion of the contest. We start the game with the two referee system since #3, referee Weiss, must have forgot to check his email. Once he does arrive, in the second half, he tries to get the center ref to take a flag but is denied and is therefore relegated to the sideline. It becomes clear early, very early on that this will be nothing more then a practice session, if that. So, with a actual 5:15 start, it will turn out to be a busy night......for our announcer Randy Cripe. His fingers will need a massage after the game. Randy and the clock are the ones getting the work out. 23 (!!!!!!) seconds in, Andre finds Jerson who scores his first goal of the night; so try to stay with me here - 1-0., When the clock has gone down a mere 70 ticks, Jerson assists Chan - 2-0. On the bench the discussion turns to how to slow down the barrage of goal scoring. Fortunately, the Panthers do not find the net again until the 12th when Kayden assists Sebastian - 3-0. In the 18th, Jerson launches a long pass to Andre who finds the back of the net - 4-0. In the 28th, Joey lays off a pass to Jerson who connects for his second goal of the night - 5-0. In minute 34, Joey decides to support Andre's stats and gets the assist to the aforementioned Andre - 6-0. In the 37th, the first half scoring comes to a halt after a Kayden Newcomer (unassisted) goal to stop the clock temporarily at 7-0. The entire roster gets significant playing time (with the exception of Skyler Duerksen who is nurturing an injured knee) and the second half starts out with most starters on the bench. Coach Kyle Dijkstra probably needs to start looking for a therapist after Andrew Graber is the first keeper at NW to get an assist after Kyle himself got one as a Panthers stopper a few years ago. The assist bragging rights now have to be shared with Graber. Chase Duerksen is on the receiving end of the assist and goes one on one on the Jimmies back up keeper; 8-0. In the 60", Chase gets involved in another attack when he gets credit for his assist to Michael Hahn who, after several tries earlier in the game, now is able to find the back of the net. The rest of the match shifts the focus to Joey Eshelman. Trying to compensate for the elbow in the face from the night before, the altered faced Joey is trying to score every which way possible and finally connects in the 76th after a Jerson assist - 10-0. Nick Lechlitner gets on the score sheet with 3 minutes to spare when he puts himself in the assist column when he passes a ball to Kayden who finds the goal for the final score of the evening; 11-0.

******* Starting Time change for tonight's game *******

The home game tonight versus JIMTOWN will start at 5 pm instead of 7 pm due to the expected severe weather later tonight!!!!

Gameday 6

Today, Gameday 6, we will face Jimtown at home. The Jimmies field a boys soccer team for the first time in school history this year. The Jimmies are 0-3 on the young season with losses to Mishawaka (5-1), Manchester (7-5) and South Bend Riley (6-1).

#16 NorthWood - Bremen 2-1 (1-0)

The JV gets its first win of the season by beating the Bremen JV 4-0 with goals from Joel Guzman (2), Chase Duerksen and Eduard Luna. Luis hits the bar on what could have been the prettiest goal of the night. The JV record is 1-1-1 (not bad considering they have already played Concord & Northridge). VARSITY FIRST HALF - The coaching staff has a good game plan but hopes that we show up for tonight's game after the hard fought win over Concord. It doesn't start out too good. Graber has to make a tipping save in the 5th to prevent a Bremen goal. Despite explaining that we just need decent shots on the frame we see players wanting to either make pretty shots or hard ones. In the 7th, Jerson rockets a shot towards the goal off a corner but the shot misses it target. Four minutes later, Sebastian does get a shot on the frame but the keeper makes a decent save. After a very nice NW build up, Andre split passes Sebastian who takes a hard shot that finds the side net. In the 19th Andre hits the post.Finally in the 29th, a long Sebastian pass finds Jerson near the right side of the box; he cuts in and his shot hits the ropes for a 1-0 half time lead. The quality of the game is not very good which is underscored by what seems to be a Bad Throw In Festival with contributions from both teams. When a Bremen player"throws"a ball into play, a Lions coach asked what was wrong with the throw, the center ref's reply is: "that's bad, bad, real bad!!". On the turnover, Angel also illegally returns the ball onto the pitch. Like the referee said; it was bad, bad, reeeaaaalll bad! SECOND HALF- It is ugly and I should maybe leave it with that. 6 minutes into the half, Bremen ties the game. Two minutes later, Graber has to prevent NW from falling behind by making a save in a 1v1 sutiation. When you think it gets better, it gets worse. First Sebastian gets fouled in the box (opponent's knee in the back of the head). The ensuing PK, taken by Andre, sails over the goal (thankfully we have ballcatchers).With only 15 ticks left on the game clock, Andre pushes a ball in the box, Chandler touches it and it ends up in front of Sebastian. Sebastian calmly slots the ball on the ground and past the keeper much to the relief of all NW fans, players and coaches and gives us 2-1 victory. The Panthers are 4-1 on the season. Next up, Tuesday (9/3/19) another home game when the Panthers host the Jimmies for the first time in boys soccer history. Our SR 19 neighbors to the north will be here for a 7 pm kick off. Hope to see all of you there again!! Go Panthers!

NW 12th Man!!!! Thank You Fans!!!!

Every boys home game so far has been a packed house. The stands are full, the entire west side line is sitting and standing room only and the cheap seats (0 dollars I guess) outside the fence even have occupants. The fans are a tremendous support for this exciting team.

Rocket Science Ice Cream and Dutch Kernel popcorn now available at the field

Long awaited concessions available now at NW home games!!!!!

NorthWood now #16 in ISCA Rankings

After losing to Northridge (ranked in top 15 in 3A)but beating Concord, the Panthers drop a couple of spots to #16.

Celebration Time!!!!!

#14 NorthWood - Concord 4-3 (1-2)

Today we will see how we perform on a Saturday. The weather is perfect, the scouting report has been absorbed and the stands are packed with fans. Despite the loss from a couple of nights ago, confidence is high. The game starts out high paced and in the 8th, Trent Edwards attacks by rolling up the right and shoots from far out. The shot goes over but it shows the danger Trent brings from the right flank. Six minutes later however, it is the Minutemen who nearly score first. Their shot fortunately ricochets off the post. In the 27th, Concord receives a favorable call from the referee when they are awarded a PK. The penalty hits the net and NW is behind 0-1. But a minute later, the ever dangerous Trent Edwards crosses a ball from the right into the box. The pass finds Andre's head. His snapping header goes past the Concord keeper and we are tied again. A defensive miscue in the 38th is being taken advantage of by a Concord striker who puts the Minutemen ahead; 1-2 which is also the half time score. Coach Duerksen reiterates the main points from the scouting report. The second half will have to show if the players listened. The second half presents Concord with more of the same from the Panthers. In the 47th, Trent again fires a ball into the box; Sebastian misses the sure assist but the ball lands in front of Andre who does not miss and places the screamer off the left end line into the far right to once again tie the game. A foul on a NorthWood player gets disputed by a fat fan in green that it "is not a foul" (response Duerksen ; "yes it is"). The man, who obviously knew we didn't have concessions and had on the way to the game already downed several breakfasts by the looks of him, then becomes more irate and vocal to which Duerksen tells him to shut up or get out. The exchange is enjoyed by most on the east side of the field! In the 54", a NW corner from Sebastian Guillen gets to Jerson who in turn gets the ball inside the six. Chandler Bontrager is at the right place at the right time and places the ball with the right instep over the goal line; 3-2. Concord's #25, by the looks of him, related to the screamer in the crowd, comes up lame after a missed shot on Graber. In the 62nd, Concord makes it 3-3 and for the 4th time the game is tied. When NW gets a throw in in front of the announcer tent, the Concord coach insinuates we are slowing the game down on purpose to which Coach Duerksen accurately replies that "believe me Shawn, we aren't going for a tie". To prove Duerksen's point, a late attack in the 7th, gives Andre one of the last opportunities in the game. Near the 6 and with a lot of Concord defenders in front of him, our #10 is able to get a shot off on the frame. The Concord keeper does not even get close and with 120 seconds left, NorthWood is ahead. NorthWood survives the last nervous 2 minutes to hold on for a big, big NLC win. The Minutemen seemed to panic every time Jerson has the ball (he is dangerous in this game), Sebastian and Trent are dangerous on the ball all day long. Andre shows he is quite the attacking threat with another hat trick. Our defense plays very well with Skyler Duerksen probably breaking a NW record for total defensive headers. Not one player has a bad game. The Panthers are 3-1 on the season (1-1 NLC). The JV loses their NLC game vs. the Concord JV. This Concord JV might be the best JV they will see all year.