Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
When the Warsaw girls soccer team faces Columbia City in the first round of the sectional Thursday, the Tigers hope to use their youth to their advantage.
This year's Warsaw squad has just four seniors -ÊJenna Rooney, Jodi Wildman, Carlie Shafer and Jessica Habegger -Ê who anchor the team. Much of the rest of the team is made up of sophomores who played as freshmen last year.
"We have a young team," said Meghan Faas, sophomore left fullback. "I think that gives us a good chance to grow and get better. We have improved since last year."
"We have definitely improved from last year," said Holly McGriff, sophomore stopper. "This year we spread the field out more. We move the ball more instead of just running straight up and down the field."
"I think we have a better mental idea of what to do in the game," said Liz Wiggins, sophomore goalie. "We know the game better this year, and we have more of a feel for the game."
Although the Tigers are a young team, they are aware of their strengths as well as their weaknesses.
"Our strength is our speed," said Jodi Wildman, senior center halfback. "We also pass well, but we don't finish the whole game sometimes."
"We work well together," said Shafer, senior forward.
"We have a strong offense," said Habegger. "We need to make sure we keep playing to the end of the game and finish strong."
Warsaw will try to capitalize on its strengths and improve upon its weaknesses in the first round of sectional against Columbia City Thursday. The Tigers defeated the Eagles earlier in the season 2-0; however, the girls refuse to overlook the strong Columbia City squad.
"We need to go in believing we can win," said McGriff, "but we can go in expecting to win. We can't go in overconfident just because we won before."
"Columbia City has always been our rival," said Wiggins. "This will be our chance to prove ourselves. If we beat them again, we can show them we mean business."
"They are a team that is fast," said Chelsea Boyd, sophomore center halfback. "They take advantage of mistakes you make, so we need to make sure we play well."
"They're a strong team, but we're stronger," said Shafer.
"Columbia City is a hard-nosed team," said Warsaw coach Brent Wildman. "They usually score one goal just on aggression. We're a low scoring team, so we need to stay focused and finish this game."
Warsaw will kick off sectional play at 6 p.m. Thursday evening in Columbia City. The Wawasee Warriors and NorthWood Panthers will face each other at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Goshen sectional.
