Tiger Soccer Season Ends With Loss To Elkhart
October 7, 2021 at 2:01 a.m.
Tiger Soccer Season Ends With Loss To Elkhart
By Anthony Anderson-
It wasn’t so much the bunching of goals, but how they came about that was bothersome to second-year Tiger coach Ryan Burgher.
“The first two goals we gave them were effort goals,” said Burgher, adding that he had warned his club before the game about not giving up anything easy. “The first one was off a corner kick. One of our players watched the ball go inside. We at least want to see some effort diving for that one. The second one was off a throw-in over one of our player’s heads. We had two guys right there that just didn’t mark up on them.
“So again, effort goals where I really think if we just worked a little harder,” Burgher reiterated, “we could’ve done something with those.”
The two close-range tallies from the No. 8-ranked Lions (14-1-1) came in the 16th and 21st minutes, the first by Daniel Lopez off fellow junior Jared Garcia’s right-side corner, and the second on sophomore Eberardo Cabrera’s slick spin move following senior Donovan Karbalaeali’s toss from the right side.
Not long after that second score, No. 16-ranked Warsaw (12-5-1) nearly cut its deficit in half on a blistering shot by junior Roberto Sanchez that struck the crossbar.
A scant 30 seconds after that, though, the Tigers were called for a handball in the defensive box, setting up senior German Mendivil’s penalty kick for the last goal of the night at 11 minutes left before intermission.
“That PK, that’s a tough call against Warsaw,” Elkhart coach Todd Sheely said. “Where they hit the crossbar, if that goes in and we don’t get that PK, it changes things a lot.”
“It was a questionable PK,” Burgher agreed, “but we didn’t lose 1-nothing. We lost (by) three.”
Though not before a second-half effort that was unrelenting, even if not fruitful.
The Tigers strung together several prime chances. They notched eight shots on goal over those final 40 minutes to the Lions’ four, after Elkhart had won the first-half count 7-2.
“I gotta give Warsaw total credit in the second half,” Sheely said. “They dominated us. We did not play well at all. We had a lack of effort and energy.”
Burgher said he “was proud of our guys for coming out and working hard” after the break.
“The second half is really what I thought the game was going to be like,” Burgher said. “I thought it was going to be up and back. We put more effort in the second half … but it’s really hard to come back from a three-goal deficit in a sectional game against a really good team.”
Warsaw closed a season in which it captured the Northern Lakes Conference title at 6-0-1 just one year after finishing seventh in the eight-team league.
“That’s a building block,” Burgher said. “We want to continue to grow the program and that conference (championship) was big, but postseason play, that’s another big one.”
The Tigers started just three seniors Wednesday — goalie Miles Burkholder along with defenders Ashton Wade and Lewis Turley — and are slated to return their top five scorers next fall, led by Sanchez (14 goals, 33 points) and Noah VanPuffelen (14, 29).
“It’s going to be nice having him back,” Burgher said of VanPuffelen being just a sophomore. “He was kind of a surprise.”
Burgher praised the leadership of a squad that included a dozen seniors overall.
“Like I was telling them,” Burgher said, “it’s nice when you go through a season and have a good set of leaders, and don’t have a lot of drama, and that’s what I’ll take away from this team, the way they were off the field.”
It wasn’t so much the bunching of goals, but how they came about that was bothersome to second-year Tiger coach Ryan Burgher.
“The first two goals we gave them were effort goals,” said Burgher, adding that he had warned his club before the game about not giving up anything easy. “The first one was off a corner kick. One of our players watched the ball go inside. We at least want to see some effort diving for that one. The second one was off a throw-in over one of our player’s heads. We had two guys right there that just didn’t mark up on them.
“So again, effort goals where I really think if we just worked a little harder,” Burgher reiterated, “we could’ve done something with those.”
The two close-range tallies from the No. 8-ranked Lions (14-1-1) came in the 16th and 21st minutes, the first by Daniel Lopez off fellow junior Jared Garcia’s right-side corner, and the second on sophomore Eberardo Cabrera’s slick spin move following senior Donovan Karbalaeali’s toss from the right side.
Not long after that second score, No. 16-ranked Warsaw (12-5-1) nearly cut its deficit in half on a blistering shot by junior Roberto Sanchez that struck the crossbar.
A scant 30 seconds after that, though, the Tigers were called for a handball in the defensive box, setting up senior German Mendivil’s penalty kick for the last goal of the night at 11 minutes left before intermission.
“That PK, that’s a tough call against Warsaw,” Elkhart coach Todd Sheely said. “Where they hit the crossbar, if that goes in and we don’t get that PK, it changes things a lot.”
“It was a questionable PK,” Burgher agreed, “but we didn’t lose 1-nothing. We lost (by) three.”
Though not before a second-half effort that was unrelenting, even if not fruitful.
The Tigers strung together several prime chances. They notched eight shots on goal over those final 40 minutes to the Lions’ four, after Elkhart had won the first-half count 7-2.
“I gotta give Warsaw total credit in the second half,” Sheely said. “They dominated us. We did not play well at all. We had a lack of effort and energy.”
Burgher said he “was proud of our guys for coming out and working hard” after the break.
“The second half is really what I thought the game was going to be like,” Burgher said. “I thought it was going to be up and back. We put more effort in the second half … but it’s really hard to come back from a three-goal deficit in a sectional game against a really good team.”
Warsaw closed a season in which it captured the Northern Lakes Conference title at 6-0-1 just one year after finishing seventh in the eight-team league.
“That’s a building block,” Burgher said. “We want to continue to grow the program and that conference (championship) was big, but postseason play, that’s another big one.”
The Tigers started just three seniors Wednesday — goalie Miles Burkholder along with defenders Ashton Wade and Lewis Turley — and are slated to return their top five scorers next fall, led by Sanchez (14 goals, 33 points) and Noah VanPuffelen (14, 29).
“It’s going to be nice having him back,” Burgher said of VanPuffelen being just a sophomore. “He was kind of a surprise.”
Burgher praised the leadership of a squad that included a dozen seniors overall.
“Like I was telling them,” Burgher said, “it’s nice when you go through a season and have a good set of leaders, and don’t have a lot of drama, and that’s what I’ll take away from this team, the way they were off the field.”
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