Playing on a wet field against a one-loss team, the Warsaw Lady Tigers soccer team came close, but couldn't hold the Northridge Lady Raiders scoreless forever.
With just 3:26 remaining in the Northern Lakes Conference game at Warsaw, Northridge senior Dana Christner dribbled the ball to the left of the Warsaw goal and crossed it to junior Connie Smith for a relatively easy score, giving the Raiders a 1-0 victory.
The loss drops Warsaw to 7-6-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the NLC, while the Raiders now sit at 12-1 on the season and 6-0 in the conference.
"We're disappointed, but we're proud of the way the seniors carried themselves," Warsaw coach Dan Miller said. "We're proud of the way the team played. They played hard. (Northridge) is a team that could be ranked, and probably should be ranked, and we played right with them. Unfortunately, we didn't get a goal that counted."
However, Warsaw did get a goal that didn't count.
Following a Northridge foul, Warsaw sophomore Emily Williamson took a free kick from 10 feet outside the 18. After Northridge junior goalkeeper Kaytlynn Coulter blocked the shot, Warsaw freshman Meredith Hollar was there to glance it into the goal.
After much celebrating on the field, and in the stands, the goal was waved off after it was decided Williamson didn't wait for the official's signal to begin play.
"It's not a rule in the rule book, but apparently, she was supposed to wait until the official signaled for her to go," Miller said. "In reality, when (the official) sets the ball down, you can go. I guess, he told the captains before the game that they needed to wait for his signal."
The illegitimate goal was just one of the oddities on Warsaw's Senior Night, which saw rain showers throughout the entire first half.
With rain coming down consistently, the players didn't get much going. The only stats through the first 40 minutes were three shots on goal by Northridge and two corner kicks by Warsaw.
"I think we played a little cautious," Northridge coach Bill Redinger said about his team in the first half. "We always talk about getting our bodies there first and taking care of those things, and I think we just played timid a little bit. Warsaw did a good job of putting pressure on us. Once the rain stopped, and we got that out of our heads, we showed up to play."
Northridge's attack did pick up in the second half, and the heat really got turned up for Warsaw junior goalkeeper Diana Monroy.
Following a shot bouncing off the crossbar from Raiders senior Stacy Denman, Monroy then had another scare two minutes later when she was able to leap and save a direct kick off the foot of senior Kim Gendron.
"Dee's done a good job for us all year," Miller said. "She played well. Our defense - Olivia (Coon) and Caitlin (Johnson) - I thought they played really well today."
The night was set to recognize Warsaw's seniors, including Emily Hickerson, Coon, Ashaunte Williams, Lindsay Williams and Brittany Enyeart, but it was Northridge's seniors that were celebrating in the end.
"The second half was definitely more like we play soccer," Redinger said.
"It's good to have nine seniors in there that can step up and say, 'Hey, we play better than this, and this isn't how we're going to finish this game.'," he added.
Warsaw wraps up its conference schedule Saturday against rival Wawasee in Syracuse, beginning at 11:30 a.m.
"Wawasee has been a little bit down this year, but that's a rivalry game," Miller said. "It's like (playing) Plymouth. If there's two teams we want to beat throughout the year, it's Plymouth and Wawasee. We didn't get Plymouth, and know we get our chance at Wawasee. I know (Wawasee) feels the same way."
