Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
In soccer, the glory generally goes to the guys who score the goals. But the player that sets up those goals are equally as important, sometimes more so.
Kevin Stouder was that important to the Warsaw Tigers Thursday against cross county and Northern Lakes Conference rival Wawasee at the City-County Athletic Complex.
Stouder set up all three Tiger goals in a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Warriors.
Warsaw was in a real dogfight with Wawasee, tied 1-1, until Stouder set Jon Earhart up from the corner beautifully with just eight minutes left in the game. Jon Baugher got the insurance goal with just over two minutes left as Stouder again set up the goal from the corner.
"He has been up and down, and I have been telling him to play consistent ball," Warsaw coach Corey Rose said of Stouder. "He has been sick sometimes, and it is hard when they are not feeling well to push them hard.
"Tonight he was in the right places," he said. "He is a very talented player. He cuts the ball well, so that sets up for some good crosses. And that is part of our offensive scheme, crossing the ball and opening up space to do that."
The Tigers need Stouder's heroics, because despite outshooting the Warriors 21-6 and generally controlling the flow of the game, Warsaw never really put Wawasee away until those final two goals.
"It was just good soccer," Wawasee coach Paul Boyd said. "I am proud of the way Wawasee played tonight. Warsaw is good. They are highly skilled, and they have fast feet. It is just the third year for our program, but we are coming along."
The Tigers used those quick feet and some nice passing to keep the ball consistently in the Warriors' end of the field, but the Wawasee defense and four saves from goalie Rob Pinney kept Warsaw from scoring.
That was until Jeremiah Whallen took a pass from Stouder and got a header that hit the top bar and bounce donce on the ground before Pinney grabbed it. After a few minutes, the officials decided that it was a Tiger goal, muchto the dismay of Boyd and the Warrior fans.
Boyd disagreed again with the call after the game was over and received a red card from the lead official for his troubles.
"That first goal was highly questionable," Boyd said. "The lineman didn't signal right away and my keeper said it never crossed the line."
Warsaw took that 1-0 lead into the second half until Wawasee's Ora Freeman (assisted by Richard Moore) got a goal early in the second half to knot the score.
"We took a little long at the beginning of the match, probably 10-12 minutes, to start to get into the flow," Boyd said. "Once we got into the flow, I thought we matched up real decent."
The Tiger win avenged a regular season loss to the Warriors last year. Warsaw got a measure of revenge with a win in the sectional, and the two teams could meet again in this year's sectional.
"It is always a good rivalry between us and Wawasee," Rose said. "We couldn't do a whole lot with the ball last year against them. And this year we wanted to spread things out a little and use our speed and passing ability. They played us hard.
"We had some opportunities, but we missed three free kicks in the game," he said. "That is uncharacteristic of the guys who took the shots."
Warsaw kept its NLC championship hopes alive with its second conference win of the week, after disposing of NorthWood on Tuesday.
"We are coming along," Rose said. "It wasn't a pretty game tonight, but lucky to get out of here with a win.
"We controlled the whole game," he said. "We had our passing game going, and at times we put two or three together, then they would take it away. We need to put five or six passes together to get it down the field and get it into scoring position."
Wawasee (3-3-2) hosts Goshen Tuesday. Warsaw (5-3-1) is at South Bend St. Joseph on Tuesday.
WARSAW 3, WAWASEE 1
Wawasee 0 1 - 1
Warsaw 1 2 - 3
Warsaw goals - Jeremiah Whallen (assist Kevin Stouder), Jon Earhart (Stouder), Jon Baugher (Stouder)
Wawasee goal - Ora Freeman (assist Richard Moore)
Saves - Rob Pinney (Wawasee) 4, Matt Brown (Warsaw) 4
