PLYMOUTH – Warsaw’s varsity boys soccer team opened defense of its Northern Lakes Conference championship in dominating fashion Thursday night. The Tigers, ranked third in the latest Class 2A state poll, didn’t allow the host Plymouth Rockies to get a shot off and left Kindt Field with a 2-0 victory. Warsaw, in search of its fourth-straight NLC title, improved to 4-0 overall while Plymouth fell to 1-1-1 and 0-1 in conference action. “It’s always our goal to be competitive in the conference,” said assistant coach Frank Courtois. “We take every conference game serious. We never take a team lightly.” The Tigers, who host No. 6 Penn Saturday at noon, were again short-handed as they were playing without senior Diego Lopez (suspension) and junior Gustavo Rodriguez (injury). Both are expected to play in Saturday’s highly-touted battle with the Kingsmen. Without them Thursday night, though, the Tigers didn’t skip a beat. While Plymouth – which entered the game on the heels of a 10-0 win over Whitko on Tuesday – couldn’t get a shot off against Warsaw’s stingy defense, the Tigers took 10 shots, seven of them on goal. Senior Nathan Kolbe scored in the eighth minute of play, while junior Zack Tucker added an insurance goal in the 19th minute. Warsaw has won its first four games of the season by a combined score of 17-0. “The kids are working hard,” said Courtois. “They’re working very hard in the defense and midfield. They’re doing well. The whole team is playing as a unit. If you play as a unit, you don’t show the opponent a weakness.” The Tigers certainly have a chance to see how strong they are Saturday. A year ago, Warsaw went to Penn and scored a 1-0 victory when both teams were ranked in the top 10. “Saturday is a very big game,” said Courtois.
