Mishawaka - NorthWood 0-7 (0-5)

The teams are announced as Eburlee seems to now be the top vote getter in the most butchered names at NW soccer games. To our surprise, Mishawaka's #12 not only gets announced as "Freight train" but his teammates actually call him that. The Mishawaka jerseys must have been designed by Freight train which seem to be rails running from the chin down to the side of the shorts. The Panthers are in no mood to wait with the scoring tonight. 120 seconds in, a Michael Hahn corner finds Dom who whips the ball into the box and to Solomon Yeagin's noggin. The redirect slams into the ropes for a aesthetically pleasing goal. 0-1! Not wanting to be outdone by Michael and Dom, Alex receives a nice long cross from the same Michael and places the ball into the box and also finds Solomon's head. Solomon repeats his first effort and scores his and NorthWood's second goal of the night in minute 11; 0-2! Eventhough we dominate play, we will not score again until the 26th when Dominic DeFreitas delivers a shot that goes to the upper left and then curls in just inside the post for a goal that seems mainly appreciated by himself and the coaches. I am not sure if the nice curl is not detected by the sparse crowd or if it is our position but it is one of the nicest finishes you will see come off the right outside boot of any player. Luis Castillo finds Carlos Alvarez in the 32nd who shoots NW to a 0-4 lead. Carlos is involved in the next goal as well when he assists Solomon on the last goal before the half; NW has 5, Sol a hat trick!. HT speech is short and with the weather going south (from drizzle to a regular rain), we are all hoping for a mercy ruled ending. The second half looks promising. In the 51st, Sol picks out Grant for a pass (after Sol brings down a ball near the box smoothly). Grant goes in the box and takes a nice shot that finds the back of the net (0-6). Luis gets taken down in the box 11 minutes later and gets to take his own PK. The self proclaimed specialist scores albeit not convincingly (keeper gets a hand on the ball) but a goal is a goal. The 0-7 lead would also be the final and we are forced to play all 80. Andrew has a great chance in front of the goal but his effort goes well over and Luis hits the post hard in the 64th. Several other chances do not go in, but with a revised formation, it is a solid result and hopefully enough practice before we take the field again in the same city but a different field and opponent Thursday night, weather permitting.

JV vs Penn 2-1 (0-1)

Cam and Landon score with 3 and 2 minutes left in the game respectively to beat the Penn JV 2-1.

JV hosts Penn today

After two close losses on Saturday against Plymouth (0-1) and Northridge (0-1), the JV returns to action at 5 pm this afternoon at home. Penn is the opponent.

NorthWood - Goshen 0-4 (0-2)

Goshen scores in 2nd minute and again in 38". In between decent soccer from the Panthers. Again a slow start in second act (42"), kills all plans for a comeback and to add insult to injury, a 4th goal goes in in the 44th. Defensively we play fairly organized but individually some lazy and slow marking cost us the game. A very good Goshen keeper and the buzzer prevent efforts from Dom (2x) and Michael whose shot makes it into the goal but a fraction of a second after time expires at the end of the half. Nothing to complain about, just time for some reorganization to get ready for Sectionals. We just need to execute much better defensively and offensively. If you can do it in practice, we should be able to do it during the game. Today's practice from 3:30-5:15. GK training starts at 3:15. JV puts in a great grinding defensive effort and gets a 0-0 draw against a very skilled but slow operating Goshen JV. Trace stops a Goshen PK as well. Dugout was clean and all balls are accounted for so no planks on the menu today.

Game Day 11

The 3-6-1 Panthers take on the 3-6-2 Redhawks at Wellfield Park tonight. The temporary entrance is on the west side of the field behind the stands. The JV starts at 5:30, Varsity at 7:15pm. We have no injuries to report. Game time temperature will be 75 degrees before it falls to about 66 at game's end. Pretty good soccer weather. Hope to see everyone out there. Go Panthers!!! The game will be broadcast live on Froggy 102.7 FM. The video live stream on michianapromitons.com and IHSAATV.org has been canceled. Craig and Ryan will do the game on the radio and the 102.7 app!

This is what goes on during a weather delay

THANKS TO WARSAW HIGH SCHOOL FOR LETTING US STAY IN THEIR FIELDHOUSE DURING THE WEATHER DELAY

MICAHEL SINGS LUIS TO SLEEP.

F1 DISCUSSION WHTHER LANDO OR MAX IS THE BETTER DRIVER; ANSWER - MAX...OBVIOUSLY

SCHROCK AND IWEMA BOTH HAVE ONLY RIGHT FEET

HANGING OUT

Warsaw - NorthWood 4-1 (2-1)

Senior Night in Warsaw typically means a late start of the Varsity game. With 12 seniors and their parents to be announced and having to listen to their life stories, it seems these activities will take some time. The weather worsens the situation when after the first senior is announced, the game is thrown into a weather delay due to thunderbolts and lightning (very very frightening me, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Figaro, magnificoo ....if you are a Freddy Mercury or Queen fan). The 6:45 start is pushed back to about 7:30. By the time we do get cleared to play, we still have to finish up listening to 11 seniors being announced by the British announcer -which does add to the experience-. Finally we can prepare and actually kick off for the game around 8 pm. The announcer throws in a couple of commentaries to the starting lineup (The NorthWood keeper, "he's a big one" and "Joel Gooooooseman") but all of this does come to an end so we can start what we came here for. The Panthers start out well and combine quick and effectively. It culminates into a couple of great opportunities. The first one is a Michael Hahn pass to Luis who nearly finds the net, the second one actually does when Dom slots the ball past the falling Warsaw keeper for the early lead in the 4th minute. NW plays well thru the first half despite giving up a goal in the 27th and 33rd. HT score is 2-1 Warsaw. The second half lowlights are a red card for the Warsaw coach in the 50th, who just happens to make one comment to a very irritable center ref, who then flips out the red caution to show the coach the door. In the 52nd, the center official points at the 12 and awards Warsaw a PK. Trent goes the right way but the shot is too hard, 3-1. In minute 54, Warsaw scores again. Showing off his inconsistency skills, referee Sixtos awards free kicks for some fouls and not for others. On the 1-10 scale, he recieves a 6 for the night. Seen worse, seen better. The red card was uncalled for. Speaking of cards, I am frankly disgusted by a lack of understanding of the game by arbitral trios when it comes to certain types of players. The Joey Eshelmans of the world are your hard nosed, hard working players who do NOT shy away from playing physical. It surprises me that a majority of officials confuse this type of playing style with that of someone who fouls all the time. Numerous times do we see Joey called for a foul when in fact he is the one being fouled. Overall it is fair to say that Warsaw is a good team and we held our own for a long time but not long enough. These large schools are fortunately not the the opponents we will face in our class in Sectionals but these type of games certainly prepare us for Sectionals. Trent Iwema has his best game of the season. He is quick of his line, is engaged all night long, his punts are good to very good. Daily GK training is starting to pay off. Overall, the team performance is good, the result just isn't yet. Next up is Goshen at home tomorrow night for both. The JV loses 4-0.

Game Day # 10 - @ Warsaw

Warsaw is the opponent today (weather permitting). This game is an away game witha 5 pm JV start to be followed by a Varsity kick off around 6:45 pm. The Tigers are 8-3-1 on the season and are on a one game losing "streak" after having gone undefeated for 4 games prior to that. The Tigers are 2-0-1 in Conference. The Panthers are 3-5-1 on the season and 1-2 in Conference. We have played three common opponents (Argos, Concord & Northridge). Warsaw is 2-1 and the Panthers are 0-3 against those opponents. The weather forecast is not very promising so we will see what tonight brings.

2021 Argos Invitational

Zionsville - NorthWood 5-1 (Solomon goal) Argos - NorthWood 2-1 (Carlos goal) Tough first game, couple of defensive miscues in second game and unable to slot away some good opportunities. Played well in second game but for a couple of moments. Time to tidy that up and we will be back in action Tuesday at Warsaw (JV 5/V 6:45) for the next NLC match up.

Elkhart Christian-NorthWood 1-1 (1-1)

ANOTHER ARBITRAL TRIO PREPARES FOR A SUB PAR PERFORMANCE. First Half We start the game on a wing and a prayer. But divine luck would not be on our side. Even though it looks like it might be at least for the first minute when we open the score with a Luis cross assist to Carlos who scores the first and only NW goal. Elkhart Christian's first action of the game is when the keeper collects the ball out of the net. And then we have to watch the Eagles defend with 9 or 10 the rest of the game. This negative and destructive type of soccer is seldom seen on a high school soccer field but tonight it is on full display. Only a 13th minute break away that is dealt with poorly gives the ECA "offense" its one opportunity and they execute it about as good as they can and put the ball past Trent for the 1-1. Sixtyseven minutes of pounding the ECA goal doesn't get the needed result. Micahel Hahn hits the crossbar twice in the second half, we stay patient, combine very well but 9 average defenders and one good goalkeeper do not allow another NW goal. Officiating has been awful for at least three games this season (one a loss, one a win and one a tie so results have little to do with the low level of enforcing the rules of the game). The center ref -who at one point went a little crazy when he came over to tell the NW coaches to hush when they literally had said nothing- deserves about a 4 on the 1-10 scale. The JV game at Westview was canceled. It seems that a lot of referees are having to cancel games due to illness/Covid and JV only games then see refs being pulled and redirected to Varsity games. The Varsity is back at it tomorrow when we play Zionsville at 3 pm at the Argos Invitational. Argos plays undefeated South Bend Adams at 1 pm. Losers of G1-G2 face each other at 6 pm while the winners play at 8 pm for the trophy. The NW bus leaves at 1:15 pm.

UPDATE - **** JV Game canceled****

The game for the JV tonight has been canceled due to Westview being unable to get referees assigned. JV practice will be for "JV only" players from 3:30-5:30 at the High School. Everyone else will travel from the High School to ECA at 6:30 when the bus leaves from door 7.

NorthWood-Wawasee 6-1 (3-0)

The weather is absoslutely perfect for this postponed match which sees the crowds rolling in as if they were Dodger fans. The early start is mostly to blame since it is an unusual 5:30 kick off. FIRST HALF It is clear early on that the majority of the possession will be for NorthWood. It is also very clear early on that Referee Mr. Potatoe Head has a bout of the "clueless flu" tonight. He will end up calling 90% of "fouls" against the Panthers and in reviewing the first foul of the game, I am not sure who this guy's eye doctor is but he needs to either get a refund for those lenses or get a new doctor. A pass to Dom is shielded by Dom in a way that every player would shield a ball but the normal soccer move gets called for the first ridiculous foul of the night. It will only get worse from here on out and it is a good thing that this game is not close so arbitrary calls will not make the difference in the outcome. I will get the scoring on the 1-10 scale for this center clown out of the way here: a solid 3.5! Back to the actual game we see a nice NW build upwith a Joel pass to Luis in the 7th who crosses from the right side of the box on the ground around the Wawasee left defender right in front of Carlos. Carlos hits the ball outside the 6 but goes over. Clearly attacks from either flank will be dangerous all night. In the 13th, Joey Eshelman loses the ball in the middle only to win it back himself starting a Panther attack. He slices thru several Wawasee midfielders and defenders and at the end his pass he find Dom who takes a wicked shot from inside the box. The keeper has no chance, NW leds 1-0.Eight minutes later, Joey starts another attack. His pass finds Carlos, Carlos passes to Sol who in turn find the feet of Mr. Guzman who connects for his first and NW's second goal of the night. Only a minute later Joey starts another NW attack and delivers the ball to Grant. Grant passes to Sol who in turn sends the ball to Michael. Michael crosses from the left to Schrock. Schrock finishes without a problem to make the HT score 3-0. HT talk focuses on quick(er) passing and some general things that need clened up but this is a game that should not give us any problems. SECOND HALF Just like half number one, this one also starts with a goal in the 13th minute (53 overall) when Carlos breaks away into the box but gets leveled. Our Dean of Athletics shared the ensuing PK by Michael Hahn on Twitter and it is one out the rocket category; 4-0. In the 55th, poor Grant gets booed when he tosses a ball that went over the sideline towards the spot it went out behind his back and inadvertently hits a baby carriage. He has no intent obviously of hurting a baby especially since we don't even know who the baby was supporting. A miracle at Wellfield Park takes place in the 57th when Michael Hahn scores with his right foot (!!!) when he slices thru a couple of defenders like a hot knife thru butter into the box; 5-0. The same Michael Hahn improves his shot to goal ratio when he executes a nice shot off a Dominic DeFreitas pass for NorthWood's sixth goal. It is Michael's first hat trick of the season. In the 73rd, the Panthers play some sloppy defense giving the Warriors their only goal of the night, 6-1. Trent tips a sure upper 90 goal from Wawasee's #10 out of the goal to prevent the second Warriors goal. Overall a well played game with lots of good passing. Greenlee and Kaleb kept the defense organized, Joey interrupted many Wawasee attempts at attacks, our forwards were lively, delivered good crosses and were dangerous. Our midfielders distributed well and our outside defenders went up the flank to help with some of the attacking. Trent made the saves when he had to. A good night, a good result. The Varsity moves to 3-3-0 (1-2 in NLC). Next up is tonight's match up at Elkhart Christian Academy at 7:30 pm; the bus leaves at 6:30 pm. The JV beat Wawasee 2-0 with Andrew Meyers' first half goal (nicely slotted in the near corner) and Weley Bell's second half perfetly delivered header into the far corner. The JV travels to Westview tonight where they will face the another set of Warriors for the JV Amish Cup. JV starts at 5 pm, bus leaves at 3:40.

UPDATE - Wawasee Game

The rescheduled game vs Wawasee will start with the Varsity game at 5:30 followed by a half JV game. The game will be played at Wellfield Park. The weather will be great. There will not be any concessions sold and the only "facilities" at the field are two port a potties.

TODAY'S GAME POSTPONED

Due to the expected bad weather tonight, the game has been rescheduled for Wednesday Sept. 8th.

Labor Day Practice spectators

THE TOP ROW OF THE BLEACHERS HOUSED 18 BUZZARDS (I BELIEVE BUT CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG)WHEN WE ARRIVED AT YESTERDAY'S PRACTICE. TODAY WE WILL PLAY WAWASEE IN A NLC MATCHUP AT HOME. JV KICKS OFF AT 5 PM (AS LONG AS THE WEATHER HOLDS OUT) AND THE VARSITY IS SCHEDULED FOR A 6:45 PM START.

Team Dinner

THANK YOU TO THE WALTERS, ROAS, MAXWELLS AND BELLS FOR PROVIDING AND HELPING WITH THE TEAM DINNER. IT WAS A GOOD TIME AND GOOD FOOD!!!!!

Team Dinner 9/2/21

There will be a team dinner directly after prctice tonight at Stauffer Park at the pavillion just north of the Nappanee Pool. We will be done with practice right around 5-5:15 pm today. Players can park by the Pool. Thank you to Jack Walter's mom for putting this together!

First win recognition for Head Coach Kyle Dijkstra

Athletic Director Roman Smith presented Kyle with the first career win ball yesterday.

Lakeland-NorthWood 0-8 (0-4)

A long bus ride that starts late but eventually gets us to Lagrange as we travel from one Amish Capital to the next. A quiet crowd of 33 "packs" the 6 stands at the beginning of the game. It would swell to almost 60 by half time. The Panthers get announced and it sounds as if we have contracted some new players for this game. Alden Greenlee, Trent Iwuuuma and Dominic DAY Freitas apparently take the field. The National Anthem starts about halfway through the first line on a absolutely gorgeous summer afternoon. The field is in good shape and the Lakers have an actual press box. Oh, to have a press box and storage shed!! 1st HALF- The Panthers start with a plus 6 passing string (probably close to 15 or so) and would end the night with a 77% Pass Succes Percentage for the night. In the third, Michael takes his first shot at goal and it hits the left and then the right post. The woodwork takes another beating in the 5th as Dom hits the post as well. Despite being in possession of the ball throughout the first 25 plus minutes in the first half, NW is unable to get a ball behind the Lakers stopper. A individual effort by Carlos finally gets us underway. In the 22nd, Carlos driblles thru the Lakeland defense like a hot knife thru butter and scores NW's first goal of the game. Dom (DAY Freitas) takes it upon himself to double the lead 11 minutes later (assisted by Carlos). Finally the floodgates open up a little. Two minutes later a nice combination puts us ahead by three when Joel finds Carlos, Carlos crosses flat across the goal mouth and Joel finds the back of the net. Another three minutes after that, in the 38th, Grant places himself on the assist stat sheet when he delivers a very nice long pass into Carlos' feet. Carlos has little trouble finishing and changes the scoreboard to 0-4 for our HT score. 2nd HALF- Four minutes into the second act we continue add more ink to the scoring list. This time Dom finds a lively Carlos by way of a thru pass. Carlos makes sure his old friends and cousins won't forget his performance anytime soon puts the ball over the line for the 0-5 lead. In the 51st, Ethan executes a long throw in to Dom who goes in the box and takes a shot that finds the ropes, 0-6. Dom finishes the night with a brace. In minute 55 Joey gets in on the action as he lays off an assist to his buddy Michael. Michael shot stat sheet will finally have one dot in orange as he puts the long shot into the back of the net for the 0-7 Panther lead. A minute later, Landon gets his first assist of the night when his pass gets to yes, you guessed it, Carlos Alvarez who signs for the 0-8 which effectively gives him the Haul for tonight's game. So a Brace and a Haul within the same game and add to that a goal for Joel and Mihael and you end up with 8 total. As hard as we battle to score the mercy goal, it would not come tonight. We hit the crossbar and posts several more times but the Lakers GK prevents number 9 from going in with the help of the woodwork of course. Trace takes the field to defend out goal for the last 22 minutes and everyone gets to play tonight with the exception of Alex who felt good enough to come to school today but did not feel that great during the match and was physically unable to take the field. All in all, we played good possession style soccer, were very patient and never got in a hurry to score goals by skipping the midfield or going straight up thE middle.The referees are invisible tonight and have little work to do. On the 0-10 scale, they collectively receive a "8". An uneventful night with the exception of 8 goals. The Panthers are 2-3 on the season and will entertain Wawasee on Tuesday at home in or third NLC match up.

GOAL SCORERS CARLOS (#3- 4 GOALS) AND DOMICIC (2 GOALS) ARE SHOWN ON THE ATTACK AT LAKELAND.

A

A RELAXED BENCH

ALEX PLACES HIMSELF IN QUARANTINE ON THE BACK BENCH AFTER FALLING ILL