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

Season ends in PK Shootout at Semi State

The pictures above illustrate the last game of our historic season. The clock shows 0-0 with the time indicating 7 minutes of Extra Time. After regular and overtimes, the game is still tied at 0-0 and we go to the PK Shootout. Coach Duerksen paces the sideline as the season comes to an end.We end up losing the Penalty Kick Shootout in dramatic fashion 2-3. But what a season it was. A historic and record setting one. NorthWood is the only public school left in Class 2A Final Four action. The seniors showed great leadership, determination and sportsmanship. No doubt that the underclassmen will have learned from that. The final record is 15-4-3. We had our chances and twice or maybe even thrice, it looked like we would score only to be surprised by some last minute stuntwork by the Canterbury defense. The private school had a solid defense, a little bit of an overrated keeper (thanks for crashing our after game huddle) and a very unsportsmanlike midfielder (thanks for flipping of our crowd). We in return showed more class with also a very good defense, good sportsmanship and a lot of fight. We are very proud of our young men. Officiating was below par tonight and mistakes were made that disadvantaged both teams. Some non decisions surely impacted the outcome of the game when both Luis and Joey were taken down inside the box in the second half and neither time did the ref blow the whistle. I understand not wanting to be the one who determines the outcome of a game but a PK is a PK and the reason you have arbiters. A 3 on the scale from 1-10. And then we are not even talking about not noticing one of our PK's being taken from the wrong spot.

Not wanting to sound like a sore loser and blaming others, the Panthers executed the game plan well and just did not get the ball over the line. The bottom line is that we had a great team, great succes, and great times. We are proud of this team and we thank our Seniors for four years of hard work with so much succes!!!!!

Practice Update

Today's practice will be in the AC due to the weather. Bring indoor shoes.

Friday Practice Information

Today's practice will be at Wellfield Park ("the Home of NorthWood Soccer") but in case it storms, we have reserved the AC so we can go thru the last preparations for tomorrow's game.

And more media attention; check out the SB Tribune for this article

#19 Fort Wayne Canterbury -# 8 NorthWood Semi State preview

Fort Wayne Canterbury (12-4-5) comes into tomorrow's game riding an eight game winning streak. Canterbury is a defensive oriented team, similar to South Bend St. Joe. They give up few goals (23) but also not scoring a lot (36,just 4 more than Andre by himself). They do not have a prolific goal scorer (#23 Wojewuczki with 7 is the topscorer on the team). Canterbury has the most State Championships of any school in the state (7)with their most recent ones coming in 2017 and 2018 (both in Class 1A). The Panthers are 15-3-3 on the season and have not lost in their last 5 games. The Panthers have won 6 total Sectionals and one Regional. This is our program's first trip to Semi State. The game kicks off at South Bend St. Joe at 3 pm. Fans are allowed in the stadium at 2:30 pm. The bus will leave the school at 1:15 pm and parents are invited to follow the bus Hoosiers style. The coaching staff has been pouring over Canterbury game tape over the last 6 days and have been preparing the team for tomorrow's match all week. Even though yesterday's practice was partly done in a downpour followed by summerlike sunny and 70's weather, tomorrow's forecast for game time is mostly cloudy and 48 degrees. Great soccer playing weather. The boys are ready and would like to make some more Panther soccer history tomorrow. The game can be seen on the IHSAA Champions Netowrk for 14.99 and Craig Lewallen and our own Ryan Mattern will have the game for you on Froggy 102.7 on the radio and the internet. GO PANTHERS!!!!!

And another article in the Goshen News

Jack Douwsma gets to spend a night with the Regional Trophy

He then thanked the coaches; here is my thank you drawing. The gray haired coach on the right is me, Jack is on the left, Duerksen in the middle.

Semi State site - Father Bly Field at Leighton Stadium in South Bend

THE STADIUM SITS ON THE CAMPUS OF SOUTH BEND SAINT JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL. THE ADDRESS FOR THE FIELD IS 453 N. NOTRE DAME AVE., SOUTH BEND. THE FIELD WAS BUILT IN 2012 FOR FOOTBALL, SOCCER AND LACROSSE. TICKETS FOR THE GAME HAVE TO BE BOUGHT ONLINE. NO PAPER TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE.

Saturday's schedule

At 1 pm all Soccer players and coaches arrive at NWHS. Make sure to have all equipment and white uniforms etc.. At 1:15 pm the Team Bus will leave NorthWood with a police escort via Panther Drive and proceeed to SR 19 and head north. Parents are welcome to follow the bus (Hoosiers Version 2.0). At 2:30 pm NW Fans are allowed to enter the stadium. At 3 pm the NorthWood (white) - Ft. Wayne Canterbury (blue) game will kick off.