SYRACUSE — The Warsaw girls soccer team scored a 4-0 victory and extended Wawasee's winless streak to 12 games Saturday in Syracuse, tacking on three goals in the final 12 minutes. Throughout the majority of the game, Wawasee (2-12-2, 0-4-1 Northern Lakes Conference) hung with the Lady Tigers (11-2-1, 5-1 NLC), trailing just 1-0 with 12 minutes to play, but then Warsaw senior Hannah Cutshall scored with 11:49 and 11:23 left to play, increasing the lead to 3-0. "I can live with a 1-0 loss," Wawasee coach John Blunk said. "It's just the ones at the end — we should have never given up. It ends up being 4-0 and looks like we got our butts kicked again. That's the 25th goal we've given up in five conference games. So, we're averaging five goals a game. It's wearing." Cutshall's two goals in the 69th minute helped complete a hat trick for her, as she also scored the game's first point three-and-a-half minutes into the second half. "Really happy with Hannah Cutshall scoring three more goals today," Warsaw coach Dan Miller said about the team's leading scorer this season. To cap off the rainy day, senior Emma Dickerhoff scored with 14 seconds remaining, as Warsaw dominated the final stages of the game. "I think they ran out of gas a little bit, and that's a tribute to us," Miller said. "We have a lot of depth. I'm confident in a lot of different girls." Warsaw ending the game outshooting Wawasee 27-4, as the Lady Tigers defense held the area's top player, Wawasee senior Mallory Rondeau, in check. "Tribute that to (junior) Lauren Snodgrass," Miller said. "She did a nice job defensively of marking her up. We were always aware of where Mallory and (junior) Lexi Blunk were at. That was something we game-planned for. I have a lot of pride in our defense. This is the 11th shutout on the season, and Wawasee had not been shut out all year. That was a team goal before the game — to shut them out." Goals have been hard to come upon against Warsaw's defense this season, but with Wawasee surrendering so many, the 0-0 halftime score was a bit surprising. "Their sweeper did a nice job," Miller said. "(Senior Sarah Rozow) did a really great job of just defending us well. In the first half, we got a little too caught up in going up the middle too much. Then, we were just a little bit unlucky. We hit the post twice, then it once more in the second half." Warsaw's unluckiness did happen when Dickerhoff hit the cross bar in the 26th minute, then Cutshall hit the right post in the 27th and senior Claire Wack hit the left post in the 41st minute. However, the Lady Tigers' luck did change with Cutshall's goal with 36:30 remaining, but everyone in attendance had their luck make a turn for the worse with 28 minutes remaining. After tolerating a light, consistent rain the entire game, the clouds unleashed much harder rain, which produced some hale, that forced officials to halt the game with 27:13 remaining. After the rain let up, play was back on after a five minute wait. This was the second time the weather has affected a Lady Tigers game, as lightning halted their home game against Plymouth on Aug. 23 for more than an hour. "That's the nice thing about having 11 seniors," Miller said. "I didn't have to say a whole lot, and I think they learned a little bit of a lesson from the Plymouth game, when we didn't handle it so well. The girls were saying, 'Stay warm. Be up, be ready.' You could really see that in the final 27 minutes. Following the rain delay, Wawasee didn't come out as sharp, although junior goalkeeper Jordan Edington did produce a couple more saves, producing 10 on the day. "Jordan played great," Blunk said. "She kept us in the game." Wawasee is right back in action today at Elkhart Memorial, and Blunk is optimistic his team can get an NLC win before the postseason begins. "We have two more games before the sectional, so we have to try to win a conference game," he said. Warsaw's next game is Tuesday, when it hosts Bethany Christian.
WARSAW 4, WAWASEE 0 War — Hannah Cutshall (Sydney Rose) 44th min. War — Cutshall (Erica Gauger) 69th min. War — Cutshall (Claire Wack) 69th min. War — Sarah Boyle (Emma Dickerhoff) 80th min. Shots — Warsaw 27, Wawasee 4; Shots on Goal — Warsaw 15, Wawasee 1; Saves — Warsaw (Abby Schue) 0, Wawasee (Jordan Edington) 10; Fouls — Warsaw 17, Wawasee 9; Offsides — Warsaw 7, Wawasee 0; Corner Kicks — Warsaw 8, Wawasee 1; Records — Warsaw 11-2-1, Wawasee 2-10-2
