SYRACUSE - First-year Wawasee High School boys soccer coach Peter Lucht is looking for one thing from his team, and he got that and more in a 2-0 win Wednesday at home against Columbia City.
"The theme since I took over the program has been to build," Lucht said. "Sometimes during the year, there's been some inconsistencies, and I think they're battling some stuff about where the program has been. Our overall theme has been to build. Today, the guys came out ready to play."It didn't take the Warriors long to get rolling, as senior Fernando Escamilla scored in the first six minutes of the game, a welcome sign to Lucht.
"We've come out flat four games in a row before today," Lucht said.
In attempt to get his guys to shake off the slow starts, Lucht tried a different approach during pregame warm-ups.
"It was relaxed," he said. "I wanted more of an emphasis on it being a beautiful game. Reminding them why they played - for the love of the game."
Already up 1-0, the Warriors put a little distance between themselves and the Eagles on a shot that was indeed a long shot.
Seconds into the 13th minute, freshman Drew Sylvester lined a kick up from about 30 yards out. After booting the ball from the goal's right side, Eagles junior goalkeeper Joel Genth could only watch as the ball sailed over his head into the left side of the net.
"They had a pretty nice shot from about 30 yards out," Columbia City coach Brady Mullett said. "It was a nice shot. I told my team that we want to make them shoot from there. You figure about 3 or 4 percent of the time, they're going to make one. And they did."
The shot may have been a long one, but it wasn't one Lucht was upset to see taken.
"We've been encouraging him to be more hungry," Lucht said of Sylvester. "Seeing him grow is good."
Seeing his team get a win without starter Anthony Reyes was also a good sign to Lucht, who expects to have the senior back soon.
"He will back," Lucht said of Reyes. "Today, his ankle was a little bit swollen, so we thought it would be better for him not to play."
Even without Reyes, the Warriors received goals from Escamilla and Sylvester, but according to Lucht, it wasn't just the scorers that earned their fourth win of the year.
"We have to give credit to those guys for finishing, but our defense came out and was smart with the ball," he said of his 4-5-1 squad. "They were zoning out of the back, and our midfield wanted to get involved in the play. Our forwards were looking to possess more than just going at the goal, so I'm going to credit it to a team effort all around."
Outside of a temporary scuffle on the ground between Wawasee junior Chris Sausaman and Columbia City junior Chris Shoda, which drew yellow cards for each, the action was limited in the second half.
Columbia City did have the chances at good shots on goal, but instead, had the ball sail about three yards over the goal each time.
"We kind of let the game play us a little bit, instead of trying to maintain anything," Mullett said. "We just need to try to improve off this."
Columbia City got just one shot on goal in the second half, that coming with 10:30 left in the half. On the evening, Wawasee took 11 shots on goal, compared to Columbia City's four, three of which were saved by Warriors senior goalkeeper Drew Johnson.
Wawasew will host East Noble Saturday at 3 p.m.
WAWASEE 2, COLUMBIA CITY 0
W - Fernando Escamilla (unassisted) 6th min.
W - Drew Sylvester (Tyson Searfoss) 27th min.
Shots on Goal - Wawasee 11, Columbia City 4; Saves - Wawasee (Drew Johnson) 3; Columbia City (Joel Genth) 9; Corner Kicks - Wawasee 3, Columbia City 6; Fouls (Yellow Cards) - Wawasee 13 (Chris Sausaman), Columbia City 13 (Lucas Shoda)
