Wawasee Kickers Fall To Memorial
September 12, 2017 at 4:37 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
The host Warriors were able to flip a switch and make things interesting. But head coach Jordan Sharp knows that in Northern Lakes Conference play, an 80-minute effort is necessary for victory.
“?A lot of things could have been different, and that’s frustrating. I looked up at the clock, and our guys waited a good 50 minutes before they started playing against this team,” Sharp said. “That’s hard to watch as a coach.”
Warrior sophomore Chris Pena had a chance to get his team off to a good start two minutes in, but his penalty kick was blocked and the rebound was also knocked away.
From there, Memorial had control of the next 50 minutes, keeping pressure on the Wawasee defense. The lead went to 3-0 three minutes into the second half when Wawasee couldn’t clear and Charger Steven Diaz poked a loose ball into the net.
Sharp said it was that kind of goal that is particularly upsetting to him.
“It seems each game we have one, and we suffer them because of a letdown of some kind,” he said. “It’s just each game, we don’t have a clean sheet, we are just allowing something in and it’s frustrating. Sometimes I point it out to them to get them fired up, we’re tired of seeing it.”
After the third Charger goal, the game began to take on a feel of playing out the minutes until Wawasee finally got through the Memorial defense. After Blaine Faught was tackled in the box, Ryan Edington converted the penalty kick to get the Warriors on the board.
Less than a minute later, Pena found Edington on a breakaway, and the senior scored his second goal to make things much more interesting.
Sharp said he’d like to see Pena and Edington get a little help from their friends.
“Ryan has been huge for us up there, it’s just frustrating that we are not able to create more for him and he is having to create so much,” Sharp said. “We are doing a little better in possessing up the field, so we don’t have to rely on hero plays, or on Ryan or Chris to do so much individually. We’re working on it but have yet to see the fruit of that, and that’s where we’re at.”
Each team stepped up its defensive effort, and Wawasee couldn’t come up with the equalizer as time expired.
It was Wawasee’s third loss of the season, all coming in conference play. But it’s the effort of his team since?NLC?play began that is at the top of Sharp’s mind.
“We are frustrated as coaches,” Sharp said. “We’re sitting over here feeling as though we’ve prepared them as best we can. And they come out in the first half and they aren’t giving it their all. That’s something that is really frustrating. That’s something we’ve got to continue to talk to them about and continue to work on with them.”
The Warriors were blanked 7-0 by the Crimson Chargers in the junior varsity match.
Wawasee (3-3-2) will play a pair of non-conference road matches, starting Wednesday at Columbia City, before hosting Goshen in NLC?play Sept. 19.
ELKHART MEMORIAL 3, WAWASEE 2
EM 2 1 – 3
W 0 2 – 2
(Goals)
EM – Elmar Martinez (free kick) 8th minute, 1-0
EM – Alejandro Correa-Murillo (Jonathan Ortiz) 34th minute, 2-0
EM – Steven Diaz (Efelipe Zendejas) 43rd minute, 3-0
W – Ryan Edington (penalty kick) 53rd minute, 3-1
W – Edington (Chris Pena) 54th minute, 3-2
Records: Elkhart Memorial 4-5-2 (2-3 NLC); Wawasee 3-3-2 (0-3 NLC)
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The host Warriors were able to flip a switch and make things interesting. But head coach Jordan Sharp knows that in Northern Lakes Conference play, an 80-minute effort is necessary for victory.
“?A lot of things could have been different, and that’s frustrating. I looked up at the clock, and our guys waited a good 50 minutes before they started playing against this team,” Sharp said. “That’s hard to watch as a coach.”
Warrior sophomore Chris Pena had a chance to get his team off to a good start two minutes in, but his penalty kick was blocked and the rebound was also knocked away.
From there, Memorial had control of the next 50 minutes, keeping pressure on the Wawasee defense. The lead went to 3-0 three minutes into the second half when Wawasee couldn’t clear and Charger Steven Diaz poked a loose ball into the net.
Sharp said it was that kind of goal that is particularly upsetting to him.
“It seems each game we have one, and we suffer them because of a letdown of some kind,” he said. “It’s just each game, we don’t have a clean sheet, we are just allowing something in and it’s frustrating. Sometimes I point it out to them to get them fired up, we’re tired of seeing it.”
After the third Charger goal, the game began to take on a feel of playing out the minutes until Wawasee finally got through the Memorial defense. After Blaine Faught was tackled in the box, Ryan Edington converted the penalty kick to get the Warriors on the board.
Less than a minute later, Pena found Edington on a breakaway, and the senior scored his second goal to make things much more interesting.
Sharp said he’d like to see Pena and Edington get a little help from their friends.
“Ryan has been huge for us up there, it’s just frustrating that we are not able to create more for him and he is having to create so much,” Sharp said. “We are doing a little better in possessing up the field, so we don’t have to rely on hero plays, or on Ryan or Chris to do so much individually. We’re working on it but have yet to see the fruit of that, and that’s where we’re at.”
Each team stepped up its defensive effort, and Wawasee couldn’t come up with the equalizer as time expired.
It was Wawasee’s third loss of the season, all coming in conference play. But it’s the effort of his team since?NLC?play began that is at the top of Sharp’s mind.
“We are frustrated as coaches,” Sharp said. “We’re sitting over here feeling as though we’ve prepared them as best we can. And they come out in the first half and they aren’t giving it their all. That’s something that is really frustrating. That’s something we’ve got to continue to talk to them about and continue to work on with them.”
The Warriors were blanked 7-0 by the Crimson Chargers in the junior varsity match.
Wawasee (3-3-2) will play a pair of non-conference road matches, starting Wednesday at Columbia City, before hosting Goshen in NLC?play Sept. 19.
ELKHART MEMORIAL 3, WAWASEE 2
EM 2 1 – 3
W 0 2 – 2
(Goals)
EM – Elmar Martinez (free kick) 8th minute, 1-0
EM – Alejandro Correa-Murillo (Jonathan Ortiz) 34th minute, 2-0
EM – Steven Diaz (Efelipe Zendejas) 43rd minute, 3-0
W – Ryan Edington (penalty kick) 53rd minute, 3-1
W – Edington (Chris Pena) 54th minute, 3-2
Records: Elkhart Memorial 4-5-2 (2-3 NLC); Wawasee 3-3-2 (0-3 NLC)
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