For the second time in these playoffs, the Warsaw girls soccer team had a chance to avenge a regular-season loss with a playoff victory. Unlike last week’s sectional semifinal however, the Lady Tigers were unable to even up the season series against Penn Wednesday night at the Tiger Soccer Complex, falling 3-0 in the regional semis.
While Warsaw was able to move forward on a couple of counterattacks, it was Penn that took control of the game in the early going, keeping possession for a majority of the opening minutes while also turning in some serious chances.
Through 10 minutes of play, not much had changed in that regard, but the Lady Tiger defense had sharpened up and was starting to end runs a lot earlier than previously, keeping the Lady Kingsmen chances at a minimum. Warsaw had a few opportunities to get something going themselves, but lacked the final touch to set up a shot.
A little after the midway point in the first half, Penn was awarded its third corner of the game, but was again rejected near the net by the Warsaw defense. Things remained scoreless as the home side fired back with a spell of possession themselves, but were unable to create anything with it. Time continued ticking away in the first 40 minutes with neither side coming any closer to scoring the opening goal.
Finally, with just 10 minutes to go before the break, the Lady Kingsmen became the first team to break through. After winning a few 50/50 balls to keep possession close to the net for just long enough, Anika Guenther found enough space to take a shot from the top of the box. The high looping attempt dived just under the crossbar and just above the leaping Ellie Schenck for the first goal of the game.
Penn sustained that pressure up until the halftime whistle, managing another shot on goal as well as another major chance that was thwarted in the box. Despite constantly being under barrage for the remainder of the first half, the Lady Tiger defense stood tall, not allowing anything else to head into the break down 1-0.
Looking to get even sooner rather than later, Warsaw began the second half with its first big chance and shot on goal in the opening minutes. It would be stopped, but gave the Lady Tigers confidence to keep pressuring. An attempt by Haidyn Elliot a few minutes later also required intervention by the Penn keeper, leaving things at 1-0.

    Junior Brooklynn Conley of Warsaw bumps the ball forward during Wednesday night's regional semi-final game against Penn...NIeter

Eventually, the Lady Kingsmen were able to get back to what made them so successful over the first 40 minutes, spinning that pressure around and putting the Warsaw defense on its heels once more. The ball control for the visitors was outstanding, with two or three defenders being needed to win possession back once it got deep into home territory.
A pair of corner kicks for Penn 10 minutes into the second half yielded no results, but did burn precious time. The minutes and second continued to tick away as the visitors kept dominating possession, and soon 15 minutes had gone by.
Just a minute later, the Lady Tigers nearly equalized, as a free kick won by Warsaw and taken by Lola Pepper was just barely deflected over the net, leading to a pair of corner kicks for the home side. The second of which bounced off of the post and led to a third corner in a row. What happened next was a scramble involving too many players to count in the middle of the box, but the end result was not what the Lady Tigers were looking for: a Penn goal kick.
The Lady Kingsmen followed the scare with a few more shots on goal of their own, but Schenck was there to stop them each time to keep the score where it was. After another attack for the Lady Tigers came up empty, a perfect counterattack launched by the visitors saw Guenther break free past the defense, unleashing a shot that found the back of the net and made it 2-0 with just 15 minutes left.
With the deficit now doubled and just 10 minutes remaining in the contest, the Lady Tigers never stopped pushing forward, playing tough for the remainder of the match while the team searched for its first goal of the night.
Instead, with three minutes left in the match, Penn put the finishing touches on the victory as Ava Stevens fielded a pass in the box and tapped it home to make it 3-0.
Warsaw will return next season.