Warsaw Kickers Survive Sectional Game
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
GOSHEN -ÊSurvive and advance.
As cliche as that phrase is, that's what it comes down to in the postseason.
Tuesday afternoon at Bethany Christian High School, the Warsaw Tiger girls soccer team survived and advanced.
The Tigers held off a physical Lakeland squad for a 2-1 win in both teams' opening match of sectional play.
Lakeland dominated much of the play early on but failed to mount a legitimate scoring threat.
In fact, the Lakers failed to have a shot on goal in the first half and managed just two corners kicks.
Warsaw managed three shots and four corners but both teams appeared to be headed into halftime knotted in a scoreless tie.
That was until the 38th minute when Bri Myers scored after Abby Rankin hit a direct kick that went to Melissa Kawsky who headed a ball that fell in front of Myers. She quickly gained control of the ball and tucked in the back of the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 halftime lead.
The Tigers nearly got on the board again in the 54th minute when Abby Rankin broke away for a scoring opportunity but was denied on a great save by Lakeland's Amy Young.
Thirty seconds later, Jamie Valentine scored her first goal of the season as Lakeland's defense lapsed and she took advantage.
Though the Tigers led 2-0 Warsaw coach Mike Getz was uneasy.
"Up 2-0, I was worried that if we set back enough they'd get the momentum," said Getz.
And to an extent Getz was right.
The Lakers cut the lead to 2-1 in the 77th minute when Linsey Pearson collected a free kick from Abby Neff that bounced off the crossbar and got it past Warsaw's Katy Cutshall to make things interesting.
Lakeland almost knotted the game at 2-2 on a shot by Neff but Cutshall skied to keep the ball from sailing into the back of the net.
"Coming into this year, Katy (Cutshall) was not our starting goalkeeper, she was our junior varsity keeper. But we lost our starting keeper and Katy had to step in. She's been growing throughout the year."
Cutshall is just one example of what Warsaw has been about this season. After losing players to graduation and transfers, the Tigers have been a young team that's growing all year.
While steadied by the senior leadership from the likes of Rankin, Valentine, Katy Taylor, Dee Landes, Kelsey Conley and Katie Dawson, youth is also being served for the Tigers.
Myers, a sophomore, came up big with just her second goal of the season.
On thing Getz feels his team has to improve on to win sectional is its fouls.
"We've got to look out for our fouls. We gave (Lakeland) too many direct kicks late because of fouls we committed," said Getz.
Warsaw moves to the semifinal round of the Bethany Christian Sectional and will take on Westview Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Westview topped an improved NorthWood squad 3-0.
The winner will take on the winner of the Bethany Christian/Wawasee game that takes place at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Wawasee looked impressive in its opening round match with an 11-0 drubbing of West Noble.
WARSAW 2, LAKELAND 1
(Scoring)
W - Bri Myers (Melissa Kawsky) 38th minute
W - Jamie Valentine 54th minute
L - Lindsey Pearson 67th minute [[In-content Ad]]
GOSHEN -ÊSurvive and advance.
As cliche as that phrase is, that's what it comes down to in the postseason.
Tuesday afternoon at Bethany Christian High School, the Warsaw Tiger girls soccer team survived and advanced.
The Tigers held off a physical Lakeland squad for a 2-1 win in both teams' opening match of sectional play.
Lakeland dominated much of the play early on but failed to mount a legitimate scoring threat.
In fact, the Lakers failed to have a shot on goal in the first half and managed just two corners kicks.
Warsaw managed three shots and four corners but both teams appeared to be headed into halftime knotted in a scoreless tie.
That was until the 38th minute when Bri Myers scored after Abby Rankin hit a direct kick that went to Melissa Kawsky who headed a ball that fell in front of Myers. She quickly gained control of the ball and tucked in the back of the net to give the Tigers a 1-0 halftime lead.
The Tigers nearly got on the board again in the 54th minute when Abby Rankin broke away for a scoring opportunity but was denied on a great save by Lakeland's Amy Young.
Thirty seconds later, Jamie Valentine scored her first goal of the season as Lakeland's defense lapsed and she took advantage.
Though the Tigers led 2-0 Warsaw coach Mike Getz was uneasy.
"Up 2-0, I was worried that if we set back enough they'd get the momentum," said Getz.
And to an extent Getz was right.
The Lakers cut the lead to 2-1 in the 77th minute when Linsey Pearson collected a free kick from Abby Neff that bounced off the crossbar and got it past Warsaw's Katy Cutshall to make things interesting.
Lakeland almost knotted the game at 2-2 on a shot by Neff but Cutshall skied to keep the ball from sailing into the back of the net.
"Coming into this year, Katy (Cutshall) was not our starting goalkeeper, she was our junior varsity keeper. But we lost our starting keeper and Katy had to step in. She's been growing throughout the year."
Cutshall is just one example of what Warsaw has been about this season. After losing players to graduation and transfers, the Tigers have been a young team that's growing all year.
While steadied by the senior leadership from the likes of Rankin, Valentine, Katy Taylor, Dee Landes, Kelsey Conley and Katie Dawson, youth is also being served for the Tigers.
Myers, a sophomore, came up big with just her second goal of the season.
On thing Getz feels his team has to improve on to win sectional is its fouls.
"We've got to look out for our fouls. We gave (Lakeland) too many direct kicks late because of fouls we committed," said Getz.
Warsaw moves to the semifinal round of the Bethany Christian Sectional and will take on Westview Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Westview topped an improved NorthWood squad 3-0.
The winner will take on the winner of the Bethany Christian/Wawasee game that takes place at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Wawasee looked impressive in its opening round match with an 11-0 drubbing of West Noble.
WARSAW 2, LAKELAND 1
(Scoring)
W - Bri Myers (Melissa Kawsky) 38th minute
W - Jamie Valentine 54th minute
L - Lindsey Pearson 67th minute [[In-content Ad]]