Hit 'em early and hit 'em often.

That was Warsaw's boys soccer team's philosophy on Tuesday against the NorthWood Panthers in a rematch of the Tigers 6-0 win over the Panthers on Saturday. Warsaw scored twice in the first 10 minutes and added another goal late in the first half and then put it in cruise control for a 4-1 victory over NorthWood at the CCAC.

Warsaw controlled the action for most of the match, whether through Brett Dickerson's dribbling skill or Kyle Smith and Gabe Koser peppering Panther goalie Darin Nunemaker with shot after shot.

The Tigers held NorthWood to just three shots on goal and held the ball in the Panther end of the field for most of the match. It was evident that the third-year program still has some distance to go before it can compete with veteran teams like Warsaw. However, with just three seniors on the squad, NorthWood has begun to build for the future.

Koser scored his first of two goals just two minutes into the match. Warsaw got a corner kick, and Koser got the header to find the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

Warsaw's second goal came just eight minutes into the match, when David Gehrke fired a shot at Nunemaker, who made the stop but allowed a rebound. Martin Barlhacher took the rebound and scored to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Warsaw continued to fire shots at Nunemaker and finally found the goal again at the six-minute mark. Koser scored his second goal on a shot that was tipped and ricocheted on its way to the goal for a 3-0 lead.

"We came out flat in the first half," NorthWood coach Brad Duerksen said. "It's been a problem all year. I think they were intimidated coming out. We realize we played a horrible game on Saturday and Warsaw came out very confident. It took us a while to realize we could play with them."

The second half was fairly uneventful as the Tigers were content to sit back and let the action come to them. NorthWood scored on a penalty kick with 13:08 to play, and Richie Zentz scored the final Warsaw goal with just 2:35 to play.

"I can't be too discouraged with them in the second half," Duerksen said. "They played well."

Warsaw goalie Matt Brown was just one penalty kick away from one of the easiest shutouts of his career, having to make just one save. Warsaw head coach Corey Rose credited that to his defense, but he still saw plenty of opportunities for improvement.

"We had some bright spots," Rose said. "I wanted to stress crossing the ball tonight and our first couple of goals came on crosses. After that, I think they got a little lackadaisical and played down to the competition. We didn't play as well as we should and we need to. We need to start winning some games. We're playing some tough competition, and we need to start showing that we can win. We lost our focus at the end, but anytime you come away with a win, you have to be thankful for it."

Warsaw (2-5-1) will be at Wawasee on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. NorthWood (0-8) will host Goshen at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

In junior varsity action, Warsaw defeated NorthWood 2-0

Brian Watson scored Warsaw's two goals, assisted by Marc Ianigro and Cocoy Santillana.

It was the second straight shutout and third of the season for the Tigers.

The JV team is now 4-3 on the season and hosts Huntington North Thursday. [[In-content Ad]]