The Goshen High School girls soccer team got the inside track on snapping Northridge’s five-year reign atop the Northern Lakes Conference Tuesday night at Warsaw. Getting a 2-0 road win, the Goshen Lady Redskins ran their NLC mark to 3-0, including a win over Northridge on Saturday, while Warsaw’s conference mark is now evened out at 1-1. Having just handed Northridge its first NLC loss in 35 matches, Goshen coach Dan Graber feels his latest win has set his squad up very nicely. “It’s a big win for us,” Graber said. “We’ve basically beaten two of the top teams in the conference. I really believe Warsaw to be right up there. Concord is probably the only other team in the running for the conference championship. For us, it’s big.” After playing on its heels early, Goshen gradually began to shift the field, and broke into the scoring column when junior Jelitza Palomino received a pass from freshman Jhoana Gomez Rios in the box and booted it into the far corner in the 27th minute. It appeared the 1-0 score would hold until the half, especially after Warsaw sophomore Rachel McClelland cleared a late drive by Palomino inside the box. However, on the ensuing corner kick, Goshen sophomore Aylissa Trosper placed the ball in a spot where Gomez Rios got her head on it, scoring with three ticks left on the clock. “They had a nice, tall girl on the back post that put it away,” Warsaw coach Peter Lucht said. “Not a lot can be done about a great delivery and just great execution.” Warsaw had its best chance to break the scoring seal in the 68th minute with senior offensive star Brooklyn Jackson taking a penalty kick. Instead of allowing her team to surrender its first NLC goal of the season, Goshen junior goalkeeper Alyssa Hershberger guessed right, dove to the left and punched the Warsaw senior’s attempt out of harm’s way. “We just have an outstanding goalkeeper,” Graber said. “She’s probably one of the best keepers in the conference. She came up big for us. I think if they had scored on that PK, that would have changed the entire momentum of the game there.” Lucht shared Graber’s sentiments about Hershberger, who had seven saves in the victory. “Brooklyn’s a phenomenal player,” Graber said of Jackson. “She’s certainly not going to miss many of those,” he added. “That was certainly a great save by the keeper.” Goshen outshot Warsaw 15-14, including 10 shots on goal to 7, but the home team had trouble getting through the Lady Redskins’ defense to get high-quality looks. “This is one where I feel a little bit unlucky,” Lucht said. “Sometimes soccer’s a cruel game. We’re a team that can dominate possession and have more scoring opportunities.” Warsaw is out of conference play when it hosts Argos Saturday, but returns to NLC actiion Tuesday at Elkhart Memorial. “If we want to win (the NLC), we probably need to win out,” Lucht said. “The NLC is very important, but we want to just keep improving and be able to play our best ball come sectional and regional and God-willing semistate and state.”
