Warsaw Soccer Team Downs Concord
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
The Tigers' 2-0 conquest of the visiting Concord Minutemen leaves them with a 4-0-1 overall mark, 2-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference. For Concord, the loss evens their NLC record at 1-1, falling to 4-2-1 overall.[[In-content Ad]]"I knew Concord would come in here with a full head of steam," Warsaw coach Scott Bauer said. "They're a good side. I think they had their sights set on a conference championship, and by no means are they out of it. We have to do the rest of our job this year and hope we don't make a misstep. Otherwise, they'll be back on our tails again."
The game didn't see much scoring, but it definitely saw it's fair share of contact. In the NLC matchup, Warsaw was whistled for 16 fouls, including two yellow cards, but Concord was called for one more at 17.
"We knew it would be a physical game," Concord coach Shawn McCuen said. "Our conference games are renowned for the physicality of the games."
The loss was big for Concord, but perhaps not as big as when senior captain Lon Hambrice left the game.
At the 24:53 mark in the first half, Hambrice found himself tracking down a loose ball when Warsaw senior Micah Price slid in to kick it out. Instead of connecting with the bouncing ball, Price's kick caught Hambrice on the right ankle, sending him to the ground in audible pain. Five minutes later, Hambrice was being loaded into a van and taken to the hospital.
"He's college bound," McCuen said of Hambrice. "I don't know where he's going yet, but he's going to play in college. We went to a split-back four for the first time this year, and he's the leader back there. He's vital asset."
With Hambrice out of the game, McCuen was forced to move his other captain, senior midfielder Jordan Burt, to the vacated spot as a defender.
"He has eight goals and five assists, but we had to move him to the back," McCuen said of Burt. "He came to me at halftime, and said he wanted to go back up (to midfielder). We decided, as coaches, we'd tried that. It didn't work out."
Even before Hambrice left the game, Warsaw had two solid chances at goals early in the first half, but came up short.
" We had four or five wonderful opportunities from the wing position in the first half that we just didn't capitalize on," Bauer said. "I think we just made it hard on ourselves. We could have had an easier match if we had just taken care of one or two of those."
The Tigers first golden opportunity came 10 minutes into the game, but following a move to get past Concord goalkeeper Jaron Le, Warsaw sophomore Noah Price's shot went just right of the goal. Two minutes later, Micah Price narrowly missed a shot off a nice cross from senior Jesse Sharp, causing the shooter to jump in the air in frustration.
The missed shots were disheartening for the Tigers, but not nearly as unnerving as the numerous offside penalties they drew. Time and time again, it appeared a Warsaw wing player had a chance at a big play, but outrunning the defenders drew the side judges flag everytime.
"We were just a little bit too energetic up top," Bauer said. "We weren't timing our runs like we'd like."
Their attempts to the outside weren't too successful, so junior midfielder Matt Franco then shot a nice pass straight up the middle to freshman Corey Lopez with just under 18 minutes to play. Lopez took the pass and made Le miss a sliding attempt at the 18. With no one between him and the goal, Lopez then eased one into the back of the net, giving Warsaw the 1-0 lead at the 17:38 mark.
The goal seemed to loosen the Tigers up, and seven minutes later, Franco scored a goal of his own on a free kick placed on the right side of the field, somewhere between the 18 and midfield.
"Matt's a wonderful weapon to have," Bauer said of the player that gave his team a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to play. "He's probably got one of the strongest legs on the team, in fact, he does. He kicks for the football team, and sometimes we worry about him maybe measuring one a little over the goal. But he can fool a keeper, because he can put some pace on it and it knuckles. That keeper was caught a little off guard."
The Franco shot cemented the Warsaw victory, and notched another win to the Tigers record, versus zero losses after five games. With the majority of last year's 8-6-4 team returning, including the school's second all-time scoring leader, and all-time assists leader, Sharp, who missed all of last season with a torn knee ligament, Bauer's guys are looking strong.
"I'm very pleased with our progress," Bauer said. "Jesse continues to get better. He's probably at 80 percent. He's not as quick and have top speed like he did. I'm really happy with the outside play of both Prices in our system. They're putting a lot of high pressure up top, and we're turning people over, taking them out of their game.
"My back four have also done a great job this year," he added. "This is our fourth clean sheet. Clean sheets in soccer mean we don't allow them to score, and the only goal we've allowed has been more or less a weak one that someone kicked from midfield."
Sharp's knee brace on his left leg may be slowing him down a bit, but he's still scoring goals on the season and making opposing teams pay a lot of attention to him.
"My hat goes off to them," McCuen said of Warsaw. "They have Sharp on the outside and two great guys in the middle that are really fast. I thought we contained (Sharp) pretty well, but they got two goals and won the game."
Along with all the returning players, the Tigers also have to very quick, agile freshmen in Jose Rodriquez and Lopez.
"They're wonderful kids as freshmen," Bauer said. "They fit very nicely with what we're doing. Corey Lopez is a nice striker and Jose can play central, midfield, outside and could probably strike as well. They're just both all-around nice ballplayers."
The Tigers will be at the Fort Wayne Carroll Tournament Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.
WARSAW 2, CONCORD 0
W - Corey Lopez (Matt Franco assist) 63rd min.
W - Franco (free kick) 70th min.
Shots on Goal - Warsaw 5, Concord 0; Saves - Warsaw (Will Brown) 0, Concord (Jaron Le) 3; Fouls (Yellow Cards) - Warsaw 16 (Noah Price, Matt Franco), Concord 17; Corner Kicks - Warsaw 3, Concord 2; Records - Warsaw 4-0-1 (2-0 NLC), Concord 4-2-1 (1-1 NLC)
JV - Warsaw 3, Concord 2
C - Austin Sneider (Antonio Castillo) 18th min.
W - Xavier Arellanes (Andros Gonzales) 20th min.
W - Lake Price (Joey Hickerson) 74th min.
C - Austin Sneider (unassisted) 5:34
W - DeGraff (unassisted) 79th min.
Warsaw JV Record - 5-0 (2-0 NLC)
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The Tigers' 2-0 conquest of the visiting Concord Minutemen leaves them with a 4-0-1 overall mark, 2-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference. For Concord, the loss evens their NLC record at 1-1, falling to 4-2-1 overall.[[In-content Ad]]"I knew Concord would come in here with a full head of steam," Warsaw coach Scott Bauer said. "They're a good side. I think they had their sights set on a conference championship, and by no means are they out of it. We have to do the rest of our job this year and hope we don't make a misstep. Otherwise, they'll be back on our tails again."
The game didn't see much scoring, but it definitely saw it's fair share of contact. In the NLC matchup, Warsaw was whistled for 16 fouls, including two yellow cards, but Concord was called for one more at 17.
"We knew it would be a physical game," Concord coach Shawn McCuen said. "Our conference games are renowned for the physicality of the games."
The loss was big for Concord, but perhaps not as big as when senior captain Lon Hambrice left the game.
At the 24:53 mark in the first half, Hambrice found himself tracking down a loose ball when Warsaw senior Micah Price slid in to kick it out. Instead of connecting with the bouncing ball, Price's kick caught Hambrice on the right ankle, sending him to the ground in audible pain. Five minutes later, Hambrice was being loaded into a van and taken to the hospital.
"He's college bound," McCuen said of Hambrice. "I don't know where he's going yet, but he's going to play in college. We went to a split-back four for the first time this year, and he's the leader back there. He's vital asset."
With Hambrice out of the game, McCuen was forced to move his other captain, senior midfielder Jordan Burt, to the vacated spot as a defender.
"He has eight goals and five assists, but we had to move him to the back," McCuen said of Burt. "He came to me at halftime, and said he wanted to go back up (to midfielder). We decided, as coaches, we'd tried that. It didn't work out."
Even before Hambrice left the game, Warsaw had two solid chances at goals early in the first half, but came up short.
" We had four or five wonderful opportunities from the wing position in the first half that we just didn't capitalize on," Bauer said. "I think we just made it hard on ourselves. We could have had an easier match if we had just taken care of one or two of those."
The Tigers first golden opportunity came 10 minutes into the game, but following a move to get past Concord goalkeeper Jaron Le, Warsaw sophomore Noah Price's shot went just right of the goal. Two minutes later, Micah Price narrowly missed a shot off a nice cross from senior Jesse Sharp, causing the shooter to jump in the air in frustration.
The missed shots were disheartening for the Tigers, but not nearly as unnerving as the numerous offside penalties they drew. Time and time again, it appeared a Warsaw wing player had a chance at a big play, but outrunning the defenders drew the side judges flag everytime.
"We were just a little bit too energetic up top," Bauer said. "We weren't timing our runs like we'd like."
Their attempts to the outside weren't too successful, so junior midfielder Matt Franco then shot a nice pass straight up the middle to freshman Corey Lopez with just under 18 minutes to play. Lopez took the pass and made Le miss a sliding attempt at the 18. With no one between him and the goal, Lopez then eased one into the back of the net, giving Warsaw the 1-0 lead at the 17:38 mark.
The goal seemed to loosen the Tigers up, and seven minutes later, Franco scored a goal of his own on a free kick placed on the right side of the field, somewhere between the 18 and midfield.
"Matt's a wonderful weapon to have," Bauer said of the player that gave his team a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to play. "He's probably got one of the strongest legs on the team, in fact, he does. He kicks for the football team, and sometimes we worry about him maybe measuring one a little over the goal. But he can fool a keeper, because he can put some pace on it and it knuckles. That keeper was caught a little off guard."
The Franco shot cemented the Warsaw victory, and notched another win to the Tigers record, versus zero losses after five games. With the majority of last year's 8-6-4 team returning, including the school's second all-time scoring leader, and all-time assists leader, Sharp, who missed all of last season with a torn knee ligament, Bauer's guys are looking strong.
"I'm very pleased with our progress," Bauer said. "Jesse continues to get better. He's probably at 80 percent. He's not as quick and have top speed like he did. I'm really happy with the outside play of both Prices in our system. They're putting a lot of high pressure up top, and we're turning people over, taking them out of their game.
"My back four have also done a great job this year," he added. "This is our fourth clean sheet. Clean sheets in soccer mean we don't allow them to score, and the only goal we've allowed has been more or less a weak one that someone kicked from midfield."
Sharp's knee brace on his left leg may be slowing him down a bit, but he's still scoring goals on the season and making opposing teams pay a lot of attention to him.
"My hat goes off to them," McCuen said of Warsaw. "They have Sharp on the outside and two great guys in the middle that are really fast. I thought we contained (Sharp) pretty well, but they got two goals and won the game."
Along with all the returning players, the Tigers also have to very quick, agile freshmen in Jose Rodriquez and Lopez.
"They're wonderful kids as freshmen," Bauer said. "They fit very nicely with what we're doing. Corey Lopez is a nice striker and Jose can play central, midfield, outside and could probably strike as well. They're just both all-around nice ballplayers."
The Tigers will be at the Fort Wayne Carroll Tournament Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.
WARSAW 2, CONCORD 0
W - Corey Lopez (Matt Franco assist) 63rd min.
W - Franco (free kick) 70th min.
Shots on Goal - Warsaw 5, Concord 0; Saves - Warsaw (Will Brown) 0, Concord (Jaron Le) 3; Fouls (Yellow Cards) - Warsaw 16 (Noah Price, Matt Franco), Concord 17; Corner Kicks - Warsaw 3, Concord 2; Records - Warsaw 4-0-1 (2-0 NLC), Concord 4-2-1 (1-1 NLC)
JV - Warsaw 3, Concord 2
C - Austin Sneider (Antonio Castillo) 18th min.
W - Xavier Arellanes (Andros Gonzales) 20th min.
W - Lake Price (Joey Hickerson) 74th min.
C - Austin Sneider (unassisted) 5:34
W - DeGraff (unassisted) 79th min.
Warsaw JV Record - 5-0 (2-0 NLC)
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