PLYMOUTH – Had the girls soccer sectional match between Wawasee and Warsaw been a boxing match, it would have been stopped in the first round and a technical knockout awarded to the Lady Tigers. Warsaw senior Elizabeth Van Wormer scored three times in the first six minutes of the game, including twice in the second minute of play, as the Lady Tigers rolled over Wawasee 8-0 at the Kindt Soccer Complex Thursday evening. Van Wormer added a fourth goal at the 13 minute mark, and assisted Alyssa Atkins on one of her two goals later in the half. Anna Grill also found the net on an assist from Atkins as the Lady Tigers opened a 7-0 lead by intermission. With the four goals, Van Wormer became the career scoring leader at Warsaw. She now has 68 career goals, one more than Merideth Hollar. “The awesome thing is that she accomplished that feat while being a team-focused person, always looking to incorporate others into the mix,” said Warsaw head coach Peter Lucht. “As our team captain, she has done an awesome job of leading the girls and being humble at the same time.” Any concerns of Warsaw overlooking the Lady Warriors, in part due to a 8-0 Lady Tiger win over Wawasee on Sept. 26, quickly went away after a solid week of preparation, according to Lucht. “We were really focused in practice this week; they were a little shorter but we didn’t shorten our intensity in our sessions, and so we were on point and making sure we were focused going in,” he said. “Of all the games you play, not a single one is won before you actually play it. There’s enough stories from the past, that we wanted to begin with the right focus and intensity in practice, and that translated well onto the pitch as well.” Wawasee planned to apply lessons learned in the Northern Lakes Conference game with Warsaw in September. It simply didn’t work out the way the Warriors and head coach Doug Heinisch hoped it would. “They played really well. They’re a really good team and they just overran us,” Heinisch said.” The intent was to pack it in a little more, but we just couldn’t mark them effectively. They kept getting open, and we missed some plays we shouldn’t have. We gave them opportunities, but on some of (the goals) they had a half a step, and they converted; they made nice plays.” Heinisch noted the Tigers kept his top two scorers, Sarah Lancaster and Leigh-Ann Schrack in check. Wawasee had only one shot on goal, and that came in the 45th minute, well after the Warrior fate had been sealed. “They possessed the ball so much. I think, for them, the best defense is a good offense,” he said. “I mean we just struggled to possess the ball, and we didn’t get as many opportunities as we’d like.” For Wawasee, the future means getting ready for next season after posting a 3-13-1 record in 2015. “If we’re going to make a jump for next year, and you always want to get better, you really make the jump between now and when fall practice starts. If we’re woking on our skills between now and then, that translates into the season. It’s hard, if you’re not playing at all in the offseason, to make that jump,” Heinisch said. Warsaw still has business this season, namely the sectional championship game at 2 p.m. Saturday against Culver Academies, a 2-0 winner over NLC member NorthWood. Lucht said the plan is to incorporate lessons learned from late-season matches against Carroll and Northridge, which represent the only blemishes on the Lady Tigers’ 14-1-1 record. “Last week was great preparation; great lessons to be learned from both games. You can’t take it off against anybody, let alone good teams,” Lucht said. “We didn’t come out the way we wanted to against Carroll, and it showed. We came out a lot stronger and played a consistent game against Northridge and that showed on the result sheet as well. Hopefully we’ve learned some from our past, both the good and the bad, and we’ll come out strong against a capable team.” WARSAW 8, WAWASEE 0 First Half War – Elizabeth Van Wormer (Rachel McClelland) 2nd min. 1-0 War – Van Wormer (Anna Grill) 2nd min. 2-0 War – Van Wormer (Sydney Wiedeman) 6th min. 3-0 War – Van Wormer (Wiedeman) 13th min. 4-0 War – Grill (Alyssa Atkins) 33rd min. 5-0 War – Atkins (Van Wormer) 37th min. 6-0 War – Atkins (Mariah Rivera) 38th min. 7-0 Second half War – Jubliee Stichter (unassisted) 51st min. 8-0 Records – Warsaw 14-1-1, Wawasee 3-13-1
