2021 Pugg Tournament - Champions, Coaches win 6th of 7 annual competition

The PUGG tournament has been played at the conclusion of two-a-days week since 2015. The coaches have won all but one (2019) tournaments. This year Coaches Brayton Taylor -not pictured/unable to compete in yesterdays game- Seth Douwsma, Kyle en Dijkstra Sr. with the addition of Bryce Knepp were the players who silenced a rowdy crowd early on and made sure it stayed very quiet after a 5-1 win in the Final.

2021 Pugg Tournament - Runner Up

Electing to play 4v4 rather then 5v5 versus the coaches, Mark, Grant, Bode, Aiden G, Wes and Soloman lost 5-1 to the Coaches; still a good result. Congratulations!!!!

2021 Pugg Tournament - 3rd Place

Michael, Andrew, Trent, Cam and Alex missed the Championship Final on goal difference but won the battle for third place.

Red-Black Game information

2021 PUGG TOURNAMENT HALTED BY STORMS

The trophies are ready (see pic), the fields are ready and so are the players. The tournament starts on time but in the 2nd minute of round 4, lightning causes the tournament to be paused and then delayed until the second half of Monday's practice. Surprisingly no players suffered -visible- ill effects from the inhaling of the dozens of donuts earlier in the day. It has been a good week of practice with lots of conditioning, skill and tactical drills. The weekend is here to rest up a little before we go into the normal season routine of 3:30-5:30 daily practices. Monday's practice/Pugg Tournament conclusion will be held on the turf albeit with probably less spectators than yesterday where we had the stands occupied by three onlookers; the largest crowd ever to witness a Pugg Tournament. The Pugg Tournament has been held since 2015.

Joey provides Krispy Kreme Donuts....

Joey drives up to the coaches this morning and says "Check out the donuts in the back". Expecting a couple of boxes, the coaches are surprised to find a couple of 2 or 3 hundred donuts in the bed of Joey's Dodge Ram. The results of a dumpster dive ending up in Joey's truck actually finds its way to many NW soccer players' stomachs. Alex leads the race and we will check on the after effects tonight before the annual Pugg Tournament.

Last day of two-a-days images......

Jerseys and practice shirts are handed out today after the Senior led run thru town.

Two-a-days keep Mr. Widner busy

On Tuesday, the entire Pain Palace is filled with soccer players. Fortunately all 4 or 5 injured players are on the mend by the end of the week and should be fit by Monday. Thank you Mr. Widner for the great care the players get all season long from early mornings to late nights!

2021 Panther Classic: Panthers reach Finals but lose to NLC foe Plymouth

The Panther Classic offers a day with 9 soccer games, plenty of sunshine and a busy day for the port a potty driver this coming week. Goals are a plenty with lots of offense and a little less defense showcased on the pitch today. The Panthers start their group play versus the Bethany Bruins and Dominic DeFreitas scores the lone Panther goal in the 36th. A defensive miscue (Landon's play back to Trace does not have enough pace) gives the Bruins the opportunity to bring the game level and with only 180 ticks left on the clock, the Panthers simply run out of time to change the outcome. We have to settle for a draw and one point as a result. Glenn defeats Bethany 2-1 which sets up a deciding game between the Panthers and the Glenn Falcons. Veteran coach Keith Meola looks like he has his players prepared and by judging their game and result versus the Bruins, this could be a tricky one for NorthWood. Kyle Dijkstra's Panthers are ready for this battle after the pre game talk. Fatigue might be the main issue during and after this game especially players who will have a good amount of playing time to their name by the time we kick off. In this 4th pre season game, the Panthers show some good possession skill -just like they did in the first game-. But unlike the first game, there seems to be more purpose offensively. In the 16th the attack from the NW side results in a Luis Castillo goal. The man who wants to wear Luis' number, Carlos Alvarez, scores goal #2 in the 35th. Dom scores his second of the day while more in an offensive MF role when he signs for the 3-0 lead. Carlos scores his second with 10 minutes left; the final is 4-0 and we need to get ready for a 6 pm Tournament Final against Plymouth. Plymouth barely beat Wawasee 13-1 after they knew they had to score 8 in order to reach the finals. The british version of Concord's Shawn McCuen was screaming his blokes to a victory ("don't be crying; it's a contact sport. if you want to play a non contact sport, pick up badminton")all the while entertaining some spectators on the east side of the field. The final sees a game that does not start out well for NW. A PK call (the ref saying a NW player "pulled" on a Rockies/Pilgrims shirt was apparently enough to justify the blowing of his flute) in the 3rd minute deflates us somewhat. Trent gets a hand on the ball but not enough to keep it out this time. It is obvious that the ref on the north side and the Panthers are not in midseason form yet. Both have room to improve. A second goal in the 6th makes matters worse. A defensive marking mistake is punished by a Plymouth striker. With three more late goals in the second half, it is the Rockies who get to take the trophy home. The tournament overall is a succes. We have now played 5 games in the pre season. We have won 4 and lost the last one, exposing some of our weaknesses that will have to be worked on. That work will start Monday morning at 9am! A shout out to Jeff Iwema and family to help with the tents and the bees, Sarah Freitas for organizing the chicken sale and all the coaches' wives for running the gate ticket stand and concessions stand from 7:30 til 7:30. As nice as the field is, it is embarrassing to not have water or decent bathrooms at the field. A park that is a Well Field should have at least water access somewhere. The lack of a shelter is also a concern for the rec league, Pumas and Panther games. For three years we have been promised that something will pop up but you can put me in the "I believe it when I see it" category. The season starts Monday with 9-11 am practices at the High School and 7-9pm practices on the turf.

TWO A DAYS start Monday

Practices are 9-11 am at the High School Practice Field and 7-9 pm at the Turf Field.

Panther Classic player information sheet

August Schedule

2021 Panther Classic schedule for 07/31/21

Argos pre-season tournament turns into a double PK shootout

South Bend Adams was the first opponent in the Argos pre-season tournament. A very good and organized first 20 minutes shows a lot of promise for the upcoming season. A great combination from the back from Joey to Michael in the middle to Luis on the flank to Joel in the box showed some promising attacking capability. It is clear that we are not where we need to be conditioning wise and that resulted in us playing on our heels for the second half of the first half but a lethal counter that sees the ball land in front of Joel has him shoot and pass the keeper for a 1-0 lead. Adams ties the game in the second half. Penalty kicks shoot out are on the menu now and after those are tied after each team takes five we go to the sudden death conclusion, albeit after a bit of officiating confusing which goes to show you that even the referees are not in mid season form. Grant Miller executes his PK well, SB Adams does not. NorthWood wins its first game of the season, Kyle Dijkstra the first of his career. Game two features a Panthers match up between NW and Griffith. Despite Griffith being short on players, they put up a good fight. NorthWood seems to assume to not have to work as hard. A fairly sloppy game where not being in shape does not help the quality of the game. The entertainment value is pretty good however. Aiden Schrock scores the first goal of the game and Griffith manages to tie it 1-1. In the second half, Michael Hahn scores his first offiial goal while back at NorthWood for a 2-1 lead. Michael does miss a pk and Grifith does not and the game is balanced once again. When the final whistle blows we are again headed for PK's. No second round this time however after Trent Iwema stops all three (!!!!!!!) and NW connects on their first three for the second PK shootout win of the day, a NorthWood first! Next up is the Panther Classic this coming Saturday where we host 9 games. The first game is at 8 am with a Bremen-Wawasee matchup. NW takes the field at 9:15 vs Bethany. Our second game will be at 2:15 vs Glenn. A full schedule will be posted here later this week.

More images from the 2021 ALumni Game

2021 Alumni Game great send off for our Head Coach Duerksen

The weather tonight resembles Coach Duerksen's career at NorthWood. Before kick off, a torrential downpour resembles the 1997 season, Coach Duerksen's first year as the Panthers Head Coach (zero wins for all of you readers who have not heard us tell that story). But the game ends under warm and sunny skies much the same way Coach Duerksens career at NW ended with a Final Four and Regional Championship game in 2020. A great turn out tonight with so many former players! The oldest one (Heath Yoder graduated in 2004) and the youngest ones, numerous players from the already legendary 2020 team. And then all the ones in between!. We form two teams of 15 players and with the muggy Florida like conditions, that is about the perfect number. Before kick off, Coach Duerksen gets a plaque from his coaching staff with all his records at NorthWood. Mentioned on the plaque are the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2020 Sectional Champions, the 2020 Regional Championship, the NLC Coach of the Year 2011, 2012 and 2019 as well as the United Soccer Coach of the Year 2020 and Indiana Soccer Coaches Association District Coach of the Year. His overall record of 203-183-44 is listed on it as well. What a great career! Coach Duerksen will be missed as will his entire famliy. All the hours that Maggie has put in behind the scenes during all these seasons, all those soccer camps!! Maggie has probably cut the tops off about 9,670 popsicles thru the years! The coaching staff wants to thank all the former players who came out tonight and we know there were numerous players who were unable to make it. It needs mentioned that the coaches team won by two goals tonight, which might be a first as well. With all the families in the stands it was truly a sign of the soccer family Coach Duerksen has created thru the years at NorthWood. The good thing is that he is not leaving this planet and only moving to Florida and the remaining coaches will organize the next Alumni game where we hope to play again with Skyler, Chase and Coach Duerksen! On a personal note, I want to wish my boss and best friend a lot of succes in Florida in the coming seasons. It has been a great ride with some downs here and there but an awful lot of ups....it has been fun! I will leave all of you with some more impressions from last nights Alumni Game.

2020 Class 2-A Final Four

Courtesy pantherpawprints.com

Images from Semi State - courtesy Goshen News

More images from Semi State