The roster looks a little different. The outcome, however, was very much the same. Despite the graduation of a number of standouts, and the current suspensions of senior Diego Lopez and head coach Scott Bauer, Warsaw’s varsity boys soccer team opened the season in dominating fashion Tuesday night. Hosting the Fort Wayne Concordia Cadets, the fourth-ranked Tigers led 4-0 at halftime and went on to win 6-0. It was the kind of outcome Warsaw’s fans have become accustomed to, cheering for a program that advanced to state two years ago and to the semistate final last season. “We lost eight players (from last year’s team),” said junior varsity coach Frank Courtois, filling in for Bauer. “The program is strong, we still have very strong players. The kids have worked hard.” José Rodriguez, the program’s all-time leader in assists, now plays at IPFW. Corey Lopez, the program’s all-time leader in goals, is now with the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats. David Johnson, Warsaw’s former brick wall of a goalie, is now a member of the team at Franklin College. With those standouts, as well as Xavier Arellanes, Brant Davis, Andros Gonzalez, Lake Price and Jared Stout, gone because of graduation, some different stars were able to shine Tuesday night. And none were brighter than senior Nathan Kolbe, who scored three goals for the Tigers. Kolbe scored Warsaw’s first goal 10 minutes into the game. His second score gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead, and then his hat-trick goal with just over three minutes remaining in the game accounted for the final score. “It feels really good,” Kolbe said of his performance. “I didn’t score a lot of goals last year. We lost a lot of scoring from last year’s team, but I and the other seniors wanted to show that we still have plenty of guys that can score.” Juniors Gustavo Rodriguez and Zack Tucker scored one goal each, while sophomore Sam Allbritten also scored a goal. Rodriguez and Tucker had one assist each. “Right now, we’re ranked fourth,” said Kolbe. “Maybe that’s a little high, but when we’re at full strength, we have the potential to go as far as we did last year. The program is really strong.” The Tigers are in action again Friday against Fort Wayne South at The Plex.
WARSAW 6, F.W. CONCORDIA 0 First Half W – Nathan Kolbe W – Sam Allbritten W – Kolbe W – Gustavo Rodriguez (Zack Tucker assist) Second Half W – Tucker W – Kolbe (Rodriguez assist) Records: Warsaw 1-0
