Lady Tigers Win Sectional OpenerThe 2A Warsaw girls soccer sectional opener featured a rematch between 2015 sectional finalists Warsaw and Culver Academies. The Lady Eagles won the title a year ago with penalty kicks. It was a more recent loss, however, that motivated the Lady Tigers to a thrilling 3-2 win Tuesday night. In the regular-season finale at Northridge Thursday, Warsaw coach Peter Lucht said his squad got away from the things it does well, and getting back to those things was a key Tuesday. “When we played against Northridge, I told the girls a life lesson they needed to learn was that it’s not enough to just do 100 percent heart, you actually have to use your head, too,” he said. “We got away from our gameplan against Northridge, and stopped playing to feet. So we really needed to focus on playing more to feet in this game, and it wasn’t always there, but it was better. “I heard once this week about (last year’s loss to Culver) from them, but not more than that. We had to be tough and go out there, and give 100 percent heart and mentally we had to be in there, too.” The Lady Eagles took the fight to Warsaw early on, and got on the board first when Addison Coy scored from the middle of the pitch 24 minutes in. From that point on, Warsaw refocused on playing solid defense and using it to create offensive breaks. “After we got beat a couple of times in the middle, we really stressed our attacking (midfielders) that they need to get back well, and get numbers behind the ball, because we needed the support. Culver’s got special players, and it’s kind of a shame that we faced them now, because I really do believe we’re the top two teams in the sectional,” Lucht said. “But we had to get numbers back because they’re good on the ball. We didn’t want to be one-on-one at any point defensively, and in order to avoid that we had to drop back in coverage a little bit more.” Abby Steffensmeier got the equalizer in the 27th minute, taking a nifty pass from Brenna Buhrt on the left side and faking out Lady Eagle goalkeeper Hannah?Fisher before scoring. The Lady Tigers nearly took the lead about 30 seconds later, but Steffensmeier’s close-range shot was just wide left. The tying goal seemed to ratchet up the Warsaw intensity a notch or two, and the Lady Tigers used that energy to take the lead in the 34th minute when Anna Grill scored off a feed from Delaney Taylor. The lead expanded when Taylor took a pass from Buhrt and found the back of the net in the 47th minute. The Lady Tiger defense looked like it would hold that two-goal margin until the final buzzer, but the Lady Eagles’ Heather MacNab placed a free kick perfectly into the upper left hand corner of the goal, just out of the reach of Warsaw goalkeeper Kaylee Patton. Culver Academies wouldn’t give up, getting two corner kicks in the final minute of play. Warsaw defenders kicked the first one past the end line, and the second corner was sent flying toward midfield as time expired. The Lady Eagles finished with an 8-2-2 record. Warsaw (14-4) advanced to play Northern Lakes Conference rival Plymouth in Thursday’s second semifinal. NLC members NorthWood and Wawasee face off in the first semifinal at 5 p.m.
WARSAW 3, CULVER ACADEMIES 2 W 2 1 – 3 CA 1 1 – 2 (Scoring) CA – Addison Coy (unassisted) 20th min. W – Abby Steffensmeier (Brenna Buhrt) 27th min. W – Anna Grill (Delaney Taylor) 34th min. W – Taylor (Buhrt) 47th min. CA – Heather MacNab (free kick) 72nd min. Records: Warsaw 14-4, Culver Academies 8-2-2
