Tigers Look Sharp In Conference Road Win Over Concord
Tigers Look Sharp In Conference Road Win Over Concord
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Anthony Anderson-
Tigers Look Sharp In Conference Road Win Over ConcordELKHART — Warsaw’s total domination of Concord proved no passing fancy, though fancy passing was a featured part of the performance.
The Tigers ruled the host Minutemen wire to wire in all phases for a eye-openingly easy 6-0
Northern Lakes Conference boys high school soccer victory Wednesday night.
“When we’re playing together like that, we’re good to go,” senior striker Jose Lara said after scoring two first-half goals. “As a unit, I feel like we can do such great things. I’m excited for our future if we keep playing like that. We just gotta keep pushing forward as a team.”
No. 11-ranked Warsaw moved to 6-1 overall, 2-0 in the NLC.
Concord — which never managed a shot on goal against the visitors’ crisp defense — dropped to 2-3 and 0-2, even with a 3-0 win over No. 6 Penn to its credit.
Precision feeds produced each of the Tigers’ first four tallies as Ethan Grill, Eliud Mejia, Blake
Burns and Alejandro Murillo all notched assists.
Grill’s free kick from just 10 yards inside midfield found Tedros Berelsman for a chip-shot header and a 1-0 lead 11:13 into the game.
Lara notched the next two scores. He was hit in stride by Mejia’s up-the-middle grounder for about a 12-yarder at 3:52 before intermission, then cashed in from close range in the last minute of the half on Burns’ whistling, wide-angle pass from the right wing.
“When our guys start moving the ball, that creates the space for the goals,” Warsaw coach Frank Courtois said. “That’s what you always want. Create and draw the other players so you can have the through balls, and that’s what we did perfectly tonight.”
Courtois called beating the usually powerful Minutemen this handily “a big surprise, but we’ll take it.”
“Our guys came to play,” Courtois said. “We ask the kids to come to play and to listen, and if we can come out and play every game like that for the rest of the season, we can guarantee it’s going to be a tough one for anybody.”
The unrelenting Tigers’ matched their three first-half goals with three more in the second. Berelsman, besides being the cornerstone of the defense throughout, collected his second goal of the night 13 minutes into the second half, that one coming off a long left-footed cross from Murillo.
Burns and Mejia added unassisted goals over the final five minutes.
Warsaw peppered Concord with 15 shots on goal and finished with a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.
After allowing exactly one goal in each of their first six outings this season, the Tigers finally earned their first shutout.
“Every game we play, we give a goal,” said Courtois, whose team recorded six blankings on the way to a 9-3-6 mark last season. “It’s nice to get this one, especially against a team like Concord.”
“It was a great shutout,” Lara said. “Our guys back there kept going, didn’t ease down. Berelsman as the anchor was complemented along the defensive wings by Ryan Harris and initially Aden Wade.
Wade became ill with 13 minutes to go in the first half and never returned, but Warsaw kept humming with Alex Brown and Agustin Hidalgo in relief.
Harrison Mevis, who was pulled midway through the second half, and Ruben Borja combined for the shutout in goal, though neither ever had to make a save or a dicey break-up.
The Tigers face Fort Wayne Luers at 5 p.m. Thursday in the opening round of the Carroll Classic, then will return to that event on Saturday.
The Minutemen won Wednesday’s junior varsity game 1-0.
