NorthWood- #9 Warsaw 1-0 (0-0)

A bus full of undefeated players rolls into town (both Warsaw team sported no losses on the season)but a deflated one leaves town after a hard fought NLC battle tonight. The JV gives Warsaw all they can handle and the Tigers are lucky to escape with a 0-1 win after a great Trace Roa performance.

Ron Bedward is out tonight in honor of his daughter Shaylee Bedward-Downs who lost her battle with ovarian cancer at age 27 this past November. September is ovarian awareness month and both the JV and Varsity are wearing teal socks (teal is the ribbon color assigned to ovarian cancer awareness) to support this cause. Ron explains the promise he made to his daughter to spread awareness of this awful decease. The weather tonight starts out rainy and cool but once the rain clears out, it turns sunny, bright and warm. By the start of the main attaraction the sun is about to set and temps dip once again so weather wise, a perfect evening for some good old NLC soccer. After the players sat thru the "History of NorthWood soccer" which showed them their connection to the program's past (very close and personal for some), we now hope they take that connection to the program onto the field and turn it into some energy. It looks like that is the case from the whistle. Warsaw, ranked 9th in 3A and undefeated at 10-0-1, dictates the tempo and play early on but the Panthers do not look one bit intimidated. The referees syndrome of calling fouls for the "big soccer schools" continues in the early stages in this game as well. A subconscious syndrome, I'm sure, but irritating nonetheless. The first time the verbal protest from the NW bench comes in the 21st when the center official gets hit by the ball coming off a NW foot. For some reason, the ref gives the drop ball to Warsaw. An evenly played somewhat physical first half ends in 0-0 and we certainly feel that we are in this game. Our line of engagement for pressure has worked well and it seems that the short tactical reminder drill the day before was absorbed very well. We look organized and if we continue to do that, we will have a shot at a result. Some very minor adjustments are made at the half and we are ready to start the second half. The play goes back and forth. After Kyle loudly complains about a call on the field, the tide seems to turn a little into our favor. I did say seems because in the 50th, play is stopped and Carlos has to remove his headband which is now deemed unsafe and the consequence is a Kyle yellow card because of a "improperly equipped player". Another yellow is issued a mere 180 seconds later when Ethan gets fouled and he retaliates with a kick at the opponent. We can live with his yellow but the decision to give the free kick to the Tigers makes no sense at all. You call the first foul, give us the free kick and Ethan a yellow for retaliation. But what do we know; apperently he only calls second fouls for free kicks. Three minutes later NorthWood attacks up the middle. Some nifty Dom moves cause the Warsaw defense to commit a foul just outside the box. Free kick specialist Luis Castillo sets up the ball and Dom takes the fake followed by Luis. His shot seems well taken and headed towards the frame. The keeper dives to his left, the ball gets deflected and disappears into the Warsaw net to the keeper's right, 0-1 NorthWood! For the next 24 minutes, NW has to park the bus in order to keep the zero on the scoreboard. With a defense that keeps battling, a midfield that slows attacks and our forwards helping where they can, we see the clock ticking down ever so slowly! An occassional attack relieves the defense for a bit but the attacks come in waves. Trent Iwema plays a huge role in tonight's win. He literally stops every ball directed on to the frame. The game stays physical until the end. Even Aiden takes a hard tackle up the middle of the field but is able to continue. The clock runs out and the Panthers can head to the locker room to celebrate one of the biggest wins ever during a regular season in program history.

THE TEAM CELEBRATES THEIR WIN OVER # 9 WARSAW!!

Match Day 10 NorthWood-#9 Warsaw

We will face three ranked teams in our next four games, for sure a tough stretch of the season. Warsaw is ranked 9th in 3A and 10-0-1 on the season and has defeated NLC opponents Concord (2-1), Plymouth (2-0) and Mishawaka to go 3-0 in NLC. The Panthers will hopefully play the role of spoiler tonight. Warsaw is a well organized team that has only given up 5 goals on the season. As amazing as that seems, the Panthers have only given up 6! The NLC match up kicks off at 6:45 pm at Wellfield Park. The JV game is slated for 5 pm.

Team Meal

A very big THANK YOU to the Dosal's for putting on the delicious team meal yesterday!!!! The food was great and despite the weather, the turn out was fantastic!!!

Trinity Greenlawn- North Wood 0-5 (0-4)

Maybe a better name for the school is Trinity not at Greenlawn but south of the Toll Rd by the tent. A detour driven excursion gets us to Greenlawn's athletic

facilities (the school only plays three sports: soccer, basketball and girls golf)only to find out that due to the referee shortage, we will have two referees for the Varsity game. Kick off starts right on time after an abbreviated warm up. The field is comparable to our old game field which means the ball will do unpredictable things. It takes us 12 minutes to find the back of the net for the first time; Aiden passes a nice ball right up the middle to Carlos who finishes nicely for a 0-1 lead. Dominic gets in on the action while private jets for the Notre Dame game whiz by to the south of us. Dom's thru ball to Alex is perfect and Alex has little trouble banging the ball into the ropes, 0-2. We have to wait until the 34th to see more scoring action when Andrew Meyers finds Soloman near the box. Sol has no problem slotting the ball by the very average Trinity keeper, 0-3. Three minutes later, Sol turns his scoring efforts into a brace after Grant gets the ball to him, 0-4. This comfortable lead means everyone gets playing time in the second half and some of our starters with minor injuries get to rest. Andrew Meyers finishes up the score in the 72nd after a Bryce assist. Andrew's quick poke is just what the doctor ordered. The final score is 0-5 and the Panthers move to 5-2-2 on the season. Due to Trinity injuries, only one half of JV is played. The final is 0-0. Monday practice on the turf; the Varsity meets in the lockerroom to start. JV on the field. Next opponent is Warsaw at home Tuesday.

Wrong Seat?

Alessandro notices he should have set one row up......

Match Day 9 @ Trinity Greenlawn - new kick off time for Varsity!!!!

Trinity plays its games at 53666 North Ironwood Dr, South Bend. This is just south of the Toll Road. From the looks, you need to take Turners Dr. east off of Ironwood, south of the Indiana Toll Road. At the end of the drive is the Trinity Athletic Center and to the south of that facility is the soccer field. Driving time is about 50 minutes from the Hogh School. Trinity is 0-4-1 on the season and we would love to add to their Loss total. Varsity starts at noon and JV at 1:30 (flipped from the original schedules)

NorthWood-Elkhart Christian 1-1 (0-0)

It doesn't take long to see where the game is headed. Possession favors the Panthers and the Eagles have not deviated much from last year's tactics. They park the bus with almost all players and launch #9 at every opportunity as their only threat. NW starts early when Alex crosses a ball into the danger area and Carlos heads the ball on the frame. The keeper makes the save and he would do that for most of the night. The pressure on the ECA defense remains constant throughout the first act but even when it looks like Andrew gets the ball past the keep after a Soloman pass, a Eagles defender clears the ball before it goes over the line. The half time score of 0-0 does not reflect what is happening on the field. The locker room talk focuses on how well we have played specifically when it comes to the hard work of our forwards and midfielders portrayed in attempting to get the ball back after possession is lost. Our switch passes are good, our runs are great and our work rate is fantastic. The focus now has to be on attacking the ball in the box. As the second half starts, the NW possession advantage continues. Two minutes in, it is Dom who finds Alex whose shot lands on the post. Luis commits a foul in the 47th that gets him a deserved yellow caution but apparently these cards are on sale tonight and for NW players only. In the 49th it is again Dom who slides a smart pass to Sol who in turn slots the ball to Alex. Alex finds Carlos in the box near the left side of the goal. Carlos, without hesitation, finishes the cross into the ropes for a 1-0 NW lead. ECA is forced to come out but does not threaten much until a breakaway in the 70th that gets stopped by Ethan. He gets all ball in the tackle but the clown in the middle calls it a foul (yellow for Ethan). The free kick from far out is the only real threat in the second half. The shot, which is decent, disappears in the NW right upper 90. This ties the game. Kyle asks for an explanation and apperently the answer is a) yellow and b) another word means red. If you are unable to explain the call and your skin is that thin that you can not handle a coach raising his voice, you probably shoud not sign up for this well paid gig. It only gets worse after this. A cross into the 75th goes into the direction of Joel who attempts to go up for a header near the right side of the goal. He gets pushed in the back hard by two Eagles defenders but neither AR1 or the center ref react. AR1 "didn't see it" and who knows what the center refs excuse is. Not that the arbiters are to blame for the tie but the facts speak for themselves. 60 percent of the fouls go in ECA's favor, we get three yellows, ECA zero and it was not a physical game. Arbitration has been pretty atrocious this season and we expect the trend that really started a while back, to continue. Despite the fact that we wanted to obviously win yesterday and Tuesday, our play has been very good and from a soccer perspective, we play "real" soccer with good and crisp passing and possession. We are organized and obviously been in every game this season. Our game just needs to improve near and in the attacking box. Our first attempt at that will be tomorrow at Trinity Greenlawn in South Bend. The JV traveled (in a delayed fashion) to Westview and wins 1-3 on Jack, Jager and Mark goals. Today's practice is at 3:30 and will run until 5pm and will be on grass at Wellfield Park.

Gameday 8 NorthWood- ECA

The JV travels to Westview (5:30 start, bus leaves at 4 pm) while the Varsity squad will take on Elkhart Christian in a Varsity doubleheader at home (girls at 5:30 pm) at 7:30 pm (players need to be at the field by 6:45 pm). ECA comes off a tough OT loss after taking Bethany Christian to a 1-1 draw in regulation. The Eagles have a 6-2 record. The Panthers are 4-2-1 and hungry for a win. The weather will be perfect and it will be nice to play a full game under the lights tonight.

Wawasee-NorthWood 1-1 (0-0)

52"Luis Castillo 0-1. 79" 1-1. Andrew Meyers goal disallowed (video shows he was on side and AR out of position). Frustrating and disappointing night on and off the field. JV wins 0-2 on a Jager PK and a Jack finish off a cross. Film for Varsity today, JV starts practice on the grass at Wellfield.

Gameday 7 at Wawasee ****NOTE the Start Times have changed with JV first and Varsity to play second.****

NLC opponent Wawasee is 5-2 on the season and like the Panthers, are on a two game win streak. Wawasee is 1-0 in conference after besting Mishawaka. On paper, the Warriors have improved and have wins versus Sectional opponent West Noble, Mishawaka, Kankakee Valley, the Berries from Logansport and South Bend Riley while losing to Culver Academies and Westview. Note the game times for tonight as they have changed. The JV game will be only a half game and will start at 5 pm while the Varsity kicks off at 6 pm!

Rochester-NorthWood 0-9 (0-7)

We encounter a bit of a rough start when the alarm on the back door of the bus refuses to stop buzzing but after attempting to reset it several times, the alarm finally gives in and the bus is able to start. Time to head to Fulton County. We still have plenty of time to spare and end up having a full 30 minutes on the field. After the names are announced, or more so while the names are announced, the national anthem is played while we all try and find the stars and stripes which seems a long way off in the distance.

Jeff Iwema engages in some wall climbing as he makes his way up to the video deck to film the game.

Time for the game to start. The quality of the opponent or lack thereof is evident from the kick off. Less than 120 seconds into the game, Sol literally juggles the ball thru the defense like a hot knife thru butter and finishes his circus tricks with a goal, 0-1. Dom, not wanting to be outdone by his teammate, slices a ball to Alex who signs for the second goal (0-2) in the 8th. A lot of combinations, give and goes and switches occur until Luis pushes a ball nicely into the corner to Alex in the 18th. Instead of the expected cross, Alex slaloms around a Rochester defender and beats the keeper for a 0-3 lead.Three minutes later, Andrew finds Sol in the box who high chips the Goalie, 0-4. Dom again gets in on the action in the 25th when he delivers a nicely weighted cross to Andrew who in turn, slots the cross to the left side of the goal for a 0-5 NW lead. Joel gets the ball in the 28th when he finds the smooth feet of Alan Castro-Castillo who scores his first ever NW goal (0-6!). And it is not even HT yet! Joel, starting to enjoy assists, does just that two minutes before the Tea and finds Andrew who puts the half time score of 0-7 on the board. There is little to say at the half. A 9 goal difference will mean that the game will last 60 minutes under IHSAA rules (mercy rule) and it seems we are headed that way. The second half therefore consists of just three things worth mentioning. First off the goals; in the 44th Dom gets the ball from Alan, and dribbles thru about 3 Rochester players and ends up scoring our 8th goal. Active Alan can again be found at the beginning of our last goal when he serves Carlos in the 51st for the final score: 0-9. A high Zebras pass is cushioned brazilian style by Aiden Greenlee who makes sure that everyone in the dugout has noticed his exemplary ball handling skills (which we did). The Panthers move to 4-2 on the season. Next up is our NLC match at Wawasee on Tuesday. The JV loses to Warsaw 0-1 despite having some scoring opportunities. Today's practice is at Wellfield on turf from 3:30-5 and Monday's training will be at Welffield Park on turf from 3:30-5:30.

Game Location information **** Brent Blacketor Spors Complex****

Tonight's Varsity game versus Rochester will be played at the Brent Blacketor Sports Complex, located at 201 Blacketor Dr., Rochester IN.. The complex is just north of the Fulton County Airport and West of SR 25. You will need to take E. 4th off of SR 25 to Blacketor to get to the complex.

Gameday 6 - @ Rochester

The Zebras play in the Three Rivers Conference and tonight's match will be the first ever between NW and Rochester. Rochester's record is 2-4-1 and they have scored 22 times (#10 Mitchell Shafer has more than half of those with 12 goals) while having been scored on 25 times in 7 games. The Panthers are 3-2 and have had 8 different players score so far this season. The bus leaves at 3:45 pm (if it shows up on time) and the game starts at 5:30 pm. This is a Varsity game only; the JV plays Warsaw's C-team at 5:30 pm at Wellfield Park. All swing players are with the JV tonight.

NorthWood- Lakeland 7-0 (2-0)

What a difference 24 hour makes...... On Monday evening we are struggling to keep the large banners on the fence during the storm and tonight, skies are clear and the temperatures are comfortable. Tonight's opponent has been scored on 22 times in 5 games so we know that defense is not their strong point. The same starters from the last game take the field but this should be a night where everyone on the bench should get minutes on the field. Swing players' time needs managed a little different since they can only play 36 halves in a season so they should only take the field where they get valuable playing time but to the point where it does not interfere with JV time. So two minutes in one half and 7 in another equals two halves but does little for the swing player but having said all that, tonight is hopefully a night where all players get a good amount of time. The game starts a little late due to the Lakeland bus not being able to leave on time and a very very long huddle competition before kick off. Despite NW possessing the ball a lot from the kick off, we play sloppy. Our passing is not very accurate. We have to wait until the tenth minute before we see our first effort on goal (Dom shot that gets saved awkwardly). Finally, in the 28th, we get our first goal when Grant passes to Dom who, from distance, shoots the ball high at the Lakers goal, 1-0. Dom gets involved again in the 32nd when he splits two Lakeland defenders to find Andrew whose shot finds the woodwork. After 7 NW passes in minute 39, Grant tries a long distance shot which sails over the short Lakers backstop for the 2-0 half time lead. After a team huddle which ended with a "one two three let's go" in spanish, we really did not in half number one. The half time talk focuses on better and quicker passing and using the wings to stretch the opponents' backline. The second half starts out better than the first. Three minutes in, Dom takes a long distance shot and places it high into the net for the 3-0 lead which effectively takes the air out of Lakeland. An Alex Escamillo pass gets dummied by Dom on its way to Joel Guzman; Joel decisively puts the ball over the line. In Indiana a running clock is institued once a team goes ahead 5-0 in the second half; this fact occurs when a Wes Bell to Joel Guzman in the box to Carlos Alvarez-Ramirez ends with Carlos' first goal of the game and NW's 5th in minute 58. 108 ticks later sees a howling NW bench begging for different players to take the free kick. Drew Davis, who entered the match only minutes before the foul, and Aiden stand by the ball. Drew takes the direct free kick and after a fake move by Maddox, sees the ball disappear into the goal for his first ever NW Varsity goal; 6-0 NorthWood. In the second half we have numerous chances of running up the score but close by chances get diverted by the Lakers keeper in some form or fashion. The last goal of the night happens a minute before the final whistle when Wes Bell finds the feet of Jack Walter who slots the ball home for the final score, 7-0. Trent Iwema and Trace Roja combine for the shutout tonight (which makes two shut outs thus far this season). There is little wrong with tonight's result and match overall (even though our first half could and should have been better). The referee crew did not get themselves into the limelight tonight; a compliment for sure. A nice reprieve from some atrocious arbiter action we have experienced before tonight's match. All players on the roster who are eligible (Allessandro Longo, our foreign exchange player from Italy, does not have the required 10 practices in yet)see the field tonight. Randy Cripe was immaculate from the announcer table tonight and as always, the national anthem goes off without a hitch. We were a little disappointed that the NorthWood version of a F16 fly over from the last game (a Ford F150 truck with an American flag in the bed of the truck circling the field during the anthem) is absent tonight. NOTES - The Panthers move to 3-2 on the season. Next up is the away game at Rochester Thursdayat 5:30 (Varsity only) while the JV plays Warsaw's C team at home at 5:30 pm.Wednesday's practice is at the complex on grass.

Gameday 5 - Lakeland

The Lakers roll into town officialy with a 2-3 record. Their last game in conference was decided on PK's vs Garrett (2-2 regulation). Lakeland has produced 6 goals in 5 games and given up 22 which would indicate some defensive deficiency. The Panthers are 2-2 on the young season and would like to win in order to put together a nice win streak in the next 4 or 5 games. Kick off is 5:30 (Varsity game only) and tonight features doubleheader action; the girls saw their game at Trinity canceled and that game has been rescheduled at Wellfield Park following the boys contest.

Week ahead

Today's training will take place on the game field (turf) at Wellfield Park. Tomorrow (Tuesdya) we will entertain the Lakers of Lakeland at 5:30 (Varsity game only). Wednesday's training is TBD but more than likely will be on the grass training ground at the High School. Thursday, the Varsity travels to Rochester for the first time in school history while the JV will face the Warsaw C-team in an added fixture for this season. Friday's practice location is unknown at this point.

NorthWood- Northridge 0-2 (0-2)

THE FIRST GOAL. NorthWood plays well on the field but is unable to convert good play in the final third into goals. On the opposite end, we give up preventable goals in the 9th and 35th minute by way of set pieces that are defended poorly. With possessing the ball 55% of the game, we should have come away with a better result. The JV sees Jack Walter score a brace to give them a 2-2 draw on the night. NOTES- Today's practice will be on the grass field at the complex and will run from 3:30-5pm. Next up is Lakeland this coming Tuesday at 5:30 pm and will be a Varsity contest only.

NorthWood-Northridge Gameday *****new start times****

Tonight's kick off times have been adjusted due to bussing problems at Northridge. JV starts at 5:30 pm while the Varsity kicks off at 7:15 pm. Northridge comes off a 1-0 win over Bethany Christian while the Panthers have won their last two games. All players are healthy for tonight's match ups. Northridge plays a brutal schedule early on and so far has faced Chesterton (L), Penn (Draw), Elkhart (L) and Bethany (W). The game is being broadcast on Froggy 102.7.

Monday Training

At 3:15 the Varsity will have the film session from the weekend games (place TBA). This will take about 30 minutes. Practice for both squads will be at the High School practice field.