Tiger Soccer Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Night
October 1, 2022 at 3:07 a.m.
Tiger Soccer Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Night
By Chip Davenport-
The trouble was Warsaw’s sense of urgency finally kicked in around the 60th minute, four minutes after Julian Saldivar’s goal (56’) capping the evening’s scoring in a 2-1 Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) loss to the Northridge Raiders.
“You never like to lose but at the same time we weren’t winning conference tonight,” Warsaw head coach Ryan Burgher noted. “We're just trying to get prepared for sectionals. If the guys come out and play like they did the last 20 minutes, then we're ready for sectionals.”
The Tigers’ position in the NLC standings Burgher referenced was the tie for third place Thursday night’s sides shared. The loss consequently relegated Warsaw, ranked as high as tenth in Class 3A earlier in the month, to fourth place in the conference standings. Their guests, instead, finished alone in third place.
There was plenty of pregame action in the TSC drawing a large, festive crowd on a beautiful fall Thursday evening.
The events on the perimeter of the action honored Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), and though the home crowd quietly went home after the loss, they were entertained during the match by Spanish-speaking play-by-play announcer Benjamin Navarro, who energized the crowd with a professional style description of the action on the pitch, especially following each goal.
Thursday’s match was the second annual celebration of Hispanic culture established last year by Burgher.
“Last year we just thought it would be cool with over 50% of our program Hispanic (to hold) a Hispanic Heritage Night game,” Burgher said. “It went great (last year) so we wanted to do it again. This year we wanted to make sure that we could advertise and get a lot of people there.”
The community used mediums such as flyers and social media posts. Three major sponsors - Lake City Bank, Grace College, and the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce – supported the event to welcome all fans with free admission.
Baile Folkorico, a traditional dance troupe founded by Miriam Fabiola Nunez in 2009, performed during pregame. The troupe is one of many ideas Nunez had for teaching area families Mexican history and culture, and to strengthen national identity of Mexican Americans.
The dancers’ performance specifically reflected cultures in Sinaloa and Jalisco, Mexico while fans watching the performance enjoyed culinary delights including elote (Mexican corn), Mexican style tacos, and tamales.
Navarro, whose PA announcing was passionate and energetic, knew Burgher during his collegiate soccer days as a Grace College student. Navarro was his Spanish professor who now holds the position of director for Latino engagement at Grace College following 25 years of Spanish instruction. He is also a liaison for Grace College and the community for Hispanic events.
“This is an opportunity to celebrate our roots, our heritage, but also at the same time celebrating our gratitude for what this country has given us,” Navarro said about the newly established boys’ soccer tradition. “We’re celebrating our families, our jobs, and the opportunities we have in this country to contribute to our community.
“It’s very, very special to highlight our culture. We are thankful to Warsaw Community High School for allowing us to host this game and its celebration.”
Burgher didn’t mince words citing his side’s comparatively lower level of energy on the pitch than the large crowd exuded from the stands throughout the night.
“We were talking about this as a coaching staff,” Burgher began. “The first 60 minutes we did not play well… we weren't connecting well. (Northridge’s) first goal was… just bouncing in. I told the guys, ‘You've gotta be able to work as hard as you can to keep that (ball) out of the goal. You can't watch it bounce in the goal,’ and this is something we've been talking about for a while.
“We also had a chance inside the six (at the 79th minute) that we didn't finish. It's the same type of stuff (I’ve been) talking to the guys (about). If we don't start fixing those opportunities, it's going to be a short run in sectionals.”
The specific play was a pass from Tito Sanchez to Mydin Burgher who couldn’t drill the shot past Northridge’s junior goalkeeper, Will Martin, in the 79th minute.
Martin also had an athletic save on a Sanchez kick headed for the upper left-hand corner of the goal leaping diagonally and vertically to deflect the screaming shot with one hand in the 77th minute.
“That goalie was holding on to everything tonight,” Burgher said regarding Martin’s remarkable performance. “I heard he was a junior… so, great, we’ll have to deal with him again next year.”
Circling back to talk of the second season, the Tigers (12-3-1) will take on Fort Wayne Anthony Wayne (5-9-1) at 5 p.m. Monday at the TSC to launch IHSAA Class 3A Sectional 7 action. Although Burgher liked what he saw in Thursday’s final 20 minutes of the match, he - again - expressed concern about avoiding a relapse into Thursday’s first 60 minutes of play.
“I think we have a really good team,” the Tiger coach said. “I think for the last 20 minutes of this game we really started to turn it on, but the problem is… if we don't give our all… it's gonna be a really short run, so we'll see what happens.”
The tournament also features undefeated Fort Wayne Northrup (14-0), and a formidable Columbia City side (11-2-2). Semifinals will begin 5 p.m. Wednesday, and finals are slated for 7 p.m. Saturday October 8. Other teams in the mix include Homestead (1-8-6), and Huntington North (7-8-1).
The trouble was Warsaw’s sense of urgency finally kicked in around the 60th minute, four minutes after Julian Saldivar’s goal (56’) capping the evening’s scoring in a 2-1 Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) loss to the Northridge Raiders.
“You never like to lose but at the same time we weren’t winning conference tonight,” Warsaw head coach Ryan Burgher noted. “We're just trying to get prepared for sectionals. If the guys come out and play like they did the last 20 minutes, then we're ready for sectionals.”
The Tigers’ position in the NLC standings Burgher referenced was the tie for third place Thursday night’s sides shared. The loss consequently relegated Warsaw, ranked as high as tenth in Class 3A earlier in the month, to fourth place in the conference standings. Their guests, instead, finished alone in third place.
There was plenty of pregame action in the TSC drawing a large, festive crowd on a beautiful fall Thursday evening.
The events on the perimeter of the action honored Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15), and though the home crowd quietly went home after the loss, they were entertained during the match by Spanish-speaking play-by-play announcer Benjamin Navarro, who energized the crowd with a professional style description of the action on the pitch, especially following each goal.
Thursday’s match was the second annual celebration of Hispanic culture established last year by Burgher.
“Last year we just thought it would be cool with over 50% of our program Hispanic (to hold) a Hispanic Heritage Night game,” Burgher said. “It went great (last year) so we wanted to do it again. This year we wanted to make sure that we could advertise and get a lot of people there.”
The community used mediums such as flyers and social media posts. Three major sponsors - Lake City Bank, Grace College, and the Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce – supported the event to welcome all fans with free admission.
Baile Folkorico, a traditional dance troupe founded by Miriam Fabiola Nunez in 2009, performed during pregame. The troupe is one of many ideas Nunez had for teaching area families Mexican history and culture, and to strengthen national identity of Mexican Americans.
The dancers’ performance specifically reflected cultures in Sinaloa and Jalisco, Mexico while fans watching the performance enjoyed culinary delights including elote (Mexican corn), Mexican style tacos, and tamales.
Navarro, whose PA announcing was passionate and energetic, knew Burgher during his collegiate soccer days as a Grace College student. Navarro was his Spanish professor who now holds the position of director for Latino engagement at Grace College following 25 years of Spanish instruction. He is also a liaison for Grace College and the community for Hispanic events.
“This is an opportunity to celebrate our roots, our heritage, but also at the same time celebrating our gratitude for what this country has given us,” Navarro said about the newly established boys’ soccer tradition. “We’re celebrating our families, our jobs, and the opportunities we have in this country to contribute to our community.
“It’s very, very special to highlight our culture. We are thankful to Warsaw Community High School for allowing us to host this game and its celebration.”
Burgher didn’t mince words citing his side’s comparatively lower level of energy on the pitch than the large crowd exuded from the stands throughout the night.
“We were talking about this as a coaching staff,” Burgher began. “The first 60 minutes we did not play well… we weren't connecting well. (Northridge’s) first goal was… just bouncing in. I told the guys, ‘You've gotta be able to work as hard as you can to keep that (ball) out of the goal. You can't watch it bounce in the goal,’ and this is something we've been talking about for a while.
“We also had a chance inside the six (at the 79th minute) that we didn't finish. It's the same type of stuff (I’ve been) talking to the guys (about). If we don't start fixing those opportunities, it's going to be a short run in sectionals.”
The specific play was a pass from Tito Sanchez to Mydin Burgher who couldn’t drill the shot past Northridge’s junior goalkeeper, Will Martin, in the 79th minute.
Martin also had an athletic save on a Sanchez kick headed for the upper left-hand corner of the goal leaping diagonally and vertically to deflect the screaming shot with one hand in the 77th minute.
“That goalie was holding on to everything tonight,” Burgher said regarding Martin’s remarkable performance. “I heard he was a junior… so, great, we’ll have to deal with him again next year.”
Circling back to talk of the second season, the Tigers (12-3-1) will take on Fort Wayne Anthony Wayne (5-9-1) at 5 p.m. Monday at the TSC to launch IHSAA Class 3A Sectional 7 action. Although Burgher liked what he saw in Thursday’s final 20 minutes of the match, he - again - expressed concern about avoiding a relapse into Thursday’s first 60 minutes of play.
“I think we have a really good team,” the Tiger coach said. “I think for the last 20 minutes of this game we really started to turn it on, but the problem is… if we don't give our all… it's gonna be a really short run, so we'll see what happens.”
The tournament also features undefeated Fort Wayne Northrup (14-0), and a formidable Columbia City side (11-2-2). Semifinals will begin 5 p.m. Wednesday, and finals are slated for 7 p.m. Saturday October 8. Other teams in the mix include Homestead (1-8-6), and Huntington North (7-8-1).
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