Making his first appearnace of the season, Diego Lopez certainly made his presence felt Saturday for Warsaw Community High School’s varsity boys soccer team. After serving a four-game suspension, Lopez opened his senior season by scoring two goals and assisting on another as the third-ranked Tigers hosted and defeated the sixth-ranked Penn Kingsmen 3-1. “Diego played a vital part in the game,” said assistant coach Frank Courtois. “When you draw two or three players to you like Diego does, it opens things up. That makes us hard to defend.” Lopez gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead when he converted a penalty kick in the 34th minute. He assisted sophomore Ernesto Cuellar on a goal in the 54th minute to give Warsaw a 2-0 advantage. The Kingsmen cut the deficit to 2-1 in the 68th minute on a penalty kick goal by junior Edson Zamora, but Lopez gave the Tigers an insurance goal in the 77th minute on an assist from classmate Nathan Kolbe. “Every time we play Penn, we know we have to show up,” said Courtois. “They’ve got a good program, and they always bring their A game. We expected a close game.” With the win, Warsaw improved to 5-0 on the season, while Penn fell to 2-3. The Tigers, who have outscored their opponents 20-1 this season, beat the Kingsmen twice last year – 1-0 at Penn in the regular season, and 1-0 in the Mishawaka Regional final. Penn graduated nine starters from last year’s team. Warsaw was hit by graduation as well, but still had plenty of experience return. “I don’t think the score tells the whole story,” said second-year Penn coach Ryan Leniski. “There were moments where we dominated possession. I thought we dealt with their offense fairly well.” The Tigers are in action again Wednesday when they host Northern Lakes Conference opponent Concord at 6:45 p.m.
WARSAW 3, PENN 1 First Half W – Diego Lopez PK (34th min) Second Half W – Ernesto Cuellar (Lopez assist, 54th minute) P – Edson Zamora PK (68th minute) W – Lopez (Nathan Kolbe assist, 77th minute) Records: Warsaw 5-0, Penn 2-3
