Tigers Rule On Senior Night

In Warsaw's boys soccer game with Northern Lakes Conference foe Plymouth Saturday, on Senior Night, the scoreboard in no way indicated how close the game was.

The scoreboard said the Tigers won 2-0, but it just as easily could have been 5-0.

Warsaw took 20 shots at the goal. The Rockies had but five shots at the goal.

"We had a lot of good opportunities," said first-year Tiger coach Scott Bauer. "We just didn't cash in on them."

The win improves Warsaw's overall season record to 7-4-4 and 3-0-3 in the NLC. Plymouth falls to 11-5-1 and 2-2-1 in league play. The Tigers, the only undefeated team in the conference, finished second in league play. Goshen won the conference outright.

The host team scored its first goal when senior Cacoy Santillana found the open net in the first half. The Rockies put the ball in the goal moments later, only to have it negated by an offsides penalty.

Given the fact that the Tigers weren't able to make good on numerous occasions, Bauer was asked how major Plymouth's falter was.

"I think that by far that was a call in our favor," said Bauer. "I think it would have energized Plymouth. But regardless, I feel we outplayed them over 80 minutes. We had the better play."

If the Tigers played the better game, the Rockies played the physical game. Members of both teams were given yellow cards numerous times for shoving, among other things. And though the Warsaw fans didn't seem to think so, Bauer said he though it was a well-officiated game.

"They (Plymouth) played a real physical game," said Bauer. "That has a tendancy to distract players sometimes. They know what we want them to do, but sometimes they tend to break down."

The Tigers scored their final goal of the game in the second half when senior Matt LaFountain put the ball in the net.

Warsaw will play Peru tonight at 8 p.m. in the Columbia City Sectional.

"We're moving the ball better at this point in the season," said Bauer. "We know what we want to do and where we want to be on the field. We're taking from this game that we're still on track and we know what we want to do. Hopefully that'll pay off in the sectional."