#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.

NW Boys soccer back on 9/19/19 (vs. Goshen)

Former player and Joey's brother turns radio color commentator

Froggy's 102.7 radio personality David Eshelman on the mic!!! We want to thank FROGGY 102.7 for broadcasting NorthWood Soccer; thanks Craig and Ron !!!!!

Soccer specific artificial turf starting to grow at Northridge

Northridge - NorthWood 4-0 (0-0)

Dubbed as Raider Week and today, Raider Day, the Panthers take the field in front of packed stands which includes a large white out student section. The Panthers end up going into a strong headwind but get the ball to start the game. After both teams settle down, it is NW who threatens first. In the 7th, Sebastian Guillen receives a wide ball in the middle of the pitch. Sebastian slots the ball to the left side to Jerson Sanchez. Jerson's acceleration gets him around the outside NR back. Jerson then crosses the ball perfectly around the back of the Raiders defense and away from the goalie. Kayden Newcomer comes up to the right side of the box and connects with the ball. The on frame shot requires the NR keeper to make a diving stop. It easily could have been 0-1. The loud and rowdy NW crowd is our 12th man and keeps the Panthers in the game. NorthWood does get away from its possession style play and only threatens occasionally but stays with the Raiders throughout the half. The hero of half number one though is Andrew Graber who can not be beat. In the 32nd. Graber tips a dangerous NR cross over with a spectacular dive. The 7th (!) NR corner seems to go in until Sebastian heads it off the line near the post to keep the score level. With only seconds until the tea, a arbitration confusion over a throw in ends in a NR DB (according to my sources, that stands for either defensive back or douche bag; you pick!)scratches Andre's neck who pushes the player back. No card given; it apparently takes a lot to get a card even though the rules clearly state that this type of foul calls for at least a yellow caution, if not more. The clock runs down to 0 with a 0-0 on the board. At the half, Coach Duerksen reminds his team that they need to trust their team mates and need to start looking to switch the ball since the weak side is open more often then not (much to Jerson's frustration). The second half starts pretty much the same way the first one ended. It is contentious, the Raiders are masters at flopping. Some of these guys should probably get an FAA license to fly considering they spent a lot of unnecessary time in the air trying to sell the arbiter on another free kick. Three minutes into the second half, a long ball to the right of the NR box finds the NR keep coming out and now that the ball is outside the box, he can not use his hands. Unable to make a good decision on what to do next, he now has to battle Kayden for the ball. Kayden ends up with the ball but is unable to deliver it into the box. NR now takes the game to NW. The Panthers try but play a little panic soccer and do not maintain possession as much as they should. A sudden open chance for Northridge gets stopped miraculously by Andrew. He has a good night all together and makes quite a few amazing saves.NR scores in the 55th and right or wrong, the coaches decide to take some chances by pushing Trent Edwards into the #8 position and moving Joey Eshelman (brother to Froggy 102.7 radio personality David Eshelman) to right back. By taking some risks to make more runs up and leaving less numbers in the back, it does leave us somewhat more vulnerable in the back. The Raiders score off a free kick in the 77th and then buy a flop PK soon there after. Graber makes an amazing stop but again our defense is not alert enough on crashing the goal after a PK to prevent another NR opportunity. We need to improve on that! In the final seconds, NR scores again for the final 4-0, a deflated score for sure. But a loss nonetheless. Overall we played well, just should have possessed a little more (the way we know how to play)but we will be okay. Graber was the NW MVP. The JV did really well and opened their season with a 0-0 draw; great job!!! Next up : Concord at home (finally) at 10 am (JV) and Noon (Varsity). This was the first loss in 11 match ups if you include the pre season and we will get back on track after last night. A shout out to our students: what a great group of supporters!!!! Thanks for coming out and we hope to see you on the sidelines again tomorrow!!

Gameday 3 : 3A -#18 Northridge - 2A #14 NorthWood

Today's game is the first NLC match up of the season for both teams. The JV game (their first game of the season) starts at 5 pm, followed by the Varsity at 6:45 pm. Northridge has defeated Elkhart Central (3-0), LaPorte (8-0) and Bethany (2-0). The Raiders lost the first game of the season 2-3 to Penn. Northridge High School is located on US20 just west of Middlebury. The soccer field is east of the High School off of the north side of the road.Temperatures will be summer like with a high of about 80-82 and partly sunny conditions so a great night to take in a competitive soccer match. A large crowd is expected and the game will be broadcasted live on Froggy 102.7 where Joey's brother David will be doing the color commentary. Hope to see everyone there cheering on the Panthers!

Indiana Soccer Coaches Association HS Boys Poll 8/27/19; NW #14 in Class 2A

Practice Tue 8/27 & 8/28

Practices today and tomorrow will be at the High School.

Another shut out......

The Panthers getting some shots in before the kick off at Lakeland. The Panthers end up with a couple of braces (Sebastian and Kayden) and a hat trick (Andre). Andrew Graber (70 min) combines a shut out with back up keeper Trent Iwema (10 min.). The Panthers have shut out both opponents thus far and have managed to put the ball in the back of the net 18 times. See the game and scoring summary in the story below.

Lakeland - NorthWood 0-7 (0-5)

Lakeland is the appropriate name for a soccer pitch today with the rainy conditions although, these are perfect soccer playing conditions. NorthWood starts early on with quick combinations that lead to a nice Andre De Freitas shot in the 7th that requires the Lakers last man to dive to his right to prevent an early NW goal.A minute later, Sebastian Guillen crosses the ball in the 18 where it bounces off of Chandler Bontrager. The ball ends up near Kayden Newcomer. He pulls the ball back around a Lakers defender and decisively places the ball into the goal for the opening goal, 0-1. In minute 10, Sebastian passes a ball from about 30 out to Kayden in the box. Kayden pushes the ball past the Lakeland GK and doubles th NW lead, 0-2. We have to wait until the 17th for NW's next and Andre's first goal of the season. The assist comes from Sebastian (0-3). Andre decides to double his score in the 20th when he shoots inside the box and hits the ropes for a 0-4 Panthers lead. We wait another 17 minutes for the last goal before the half; Jerson Sanchez passes a perfect weighted ball to Sebastian who in typical Sebastian style, slots the ball in the corner for the Half Time score of 0-5. A lackluster Lakeland does not move the ball well, rarely comes in our defensive third and seems to move slow across the field. The Lakers performance does not inspire the Panthers to play their best soccer but the Panthers performance is more than good enough to outhustle, outrun and outshoot the boys from LaGrange. At this rate, the trophy signs on the Lakeland press box will not be filling up any time soon. NorthWood scores two more times in the second act; in the 65", Sebastian gets a hold of a ball that bounces around and scores, unassisted; 0-6. And in the 74th, Jerson once again gets involved when he passes from 25 out to his right to Andre. Andre makes no mistake and slips the ball past the GK and over the line for the final score; 0-7. The Panthers are 2-0 on the young season. Now the real (hard) work begins. In what has been dubbed "Raider week" by some of the players, it is that opponent who does show up next on the game calendar. Our trek to Middlebury to face Northridge is this coming Thursday with a JV game start at 5 pm (their first match) and a 6:45 pm Varsity fixture.

Today's practice

We are at the High School practice field. A Lactid Acid run will kick off the practice today before we turn to some more tactical and ball touch work. We will be done by 5 pm! Monday the Varsity travels to LaGrange for the Varsity only matchup against the Lakeland Lakers.

Home field sign up!

Things are coming together!!!!!

18 Freddy Mercury's on the bus

Probably one of the worst renditions of Bohmemian Rhapsody took place on the way home last night!

Third Half?

Tippy Valley Vikings - NorthWood 0-11 (0-7)

Nothing special falls out of the Viking Mystery Machine that can help the Tippy Valley soccer team against the Panthers. From the start NW dominates with possession. In the 4th Michael Hahn assists Jerson Sanchez for his first goal of the season. Chandler Bontrager wants to get in on the action as well when he lasers a shot that finds the crossbar in the 5th. The scoreboard changes to 0-2 when Jerson finds the feet of Sebastian Guillen who decidedly shoots the leather behind "Double Zero". Jerson stays involved when he ends up at the receiving end of a Andre De Freitas free kick by way of a rebound in the 18th; 0-3. Sixty ticks later, Jerson decides to put his stamp on the game again by once again hooking up with Andre (assist) for Jerson's first hat trick of the very young season, 0-4! Three minutes later, Marshall Beebe swings a corner into the box where Kayden Newcomer places the ball over the line; 0-5. Another corner in the 30th lands near Jason Weldy's boots who shoots.....and scores (0-6 if you are still counting). In the 35th, Jason finds himself in possession of the ball again and scores an unassisted goal to give the Panthers a 0-7 half time lead. The focus of the second half remains on possession and some pressing and turns more into a glorified practice then a game. In the 46th, Sebastian neglects to put a header in the goal when a nice cross into the 18 goes over. In the 53rd, Andre places a perfect ball in front of Kayden who makes no mistake and signs for NW goal #8. A nice Chase Duerksen lay off pass goes to Marshall Beebe who puts a screamer into the net. Marshall gets active again in the 69th when he places a nice pass to Kayden who decides to crank the ball hard and high into the ropes from about 30 out; 0-10! With two minutes left on the clock, Chandler executes a perfect split pass to Cam Iwema who, with a terrific finish, rips the ball to the right of the Tippy Valley GK dressed in highlighter garb for the final score, 0-11. A good practice game to start the season. The field wasn't great (tall grass), the opponent wasn't great but our performance was very satisfactory with a lot of possession and crisp passing. A job well done by the boys. Now it goes up a notch when we visit the Lakers on Monday Night.

Season finally kicks off........Gameday 1

The Panthers travel to Akron, IN for the first game of the season against the Tippy Valley Vikings. Game time is 5 pm. The bus will leave the school at 3:30 pm. The JV will stay behind and practice from 3:30-5:30 today. With no injuries to report, the full squad will make the trip south. The start of the season takes us on the road for games 1 thru 3. The home opener isn't until Saturday August 31. Before that we visit Lakeland (8/26) and Northridge (8/29). Game time temperature will be a comfortable 77 degrees.Last year's result was 11-0.

Blur face or Wyatt??

Tippy Valley Directions

GPS - 8345 S. State Road 19, Akron IN, travel time 55 minutes/ distance 40 miles.

Training information

All practices will be on the High School practice fields. Tuesday's practice will start with a tactical session in Coach Duerksen's room.