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COLUMBIA CITY - Maybe the Warriors were inspired by the game they saw before theirs.
After all, Columbia City upset the favorite Huntington North in a shoot-out. Or maybe the weather helped Wawasee stay close to the three-time defending sectional champions.
Whatever the reason, Wawasee played fairly even with Carroll over the first 35 minutes before lapsing for a short 10-minute period in a 2-0 loss in the first round of the Columbia City Boys Soccer Sectional on Monday night.
For most of the first half, the Warriors held their own with the champs. Admittedly, Carroll was the aggressor and had most of the scoring opportunities throughout the opening 35 minutes, but the Warrior defense of Kyle Swihart, Chad Wortinger and goalie Justin Bell shut down the Carroll offense for most of the opening half.
However, over the final 10 minutes of the half, Carroll took over.
With just over nine minutes left in the first half, Joseph Clapp picked up the ball off of a shot that rebounded off of the goalie and gave the Chargers a 1-0 lead with a shot that found the net.
Instead of sitting on the lead, Carroll picked up the intensity and Clapp needled a pass between a pair of defenders to Thomas Newhard, who had an easy shot on goal to put Carroll ahead 2-0 with just under three minutes to play in the half.
In the second half, the Warriors came out and worked to get back in the game. However, the Charger defense was too strong, and Wawasee could not get many good looks at goal as neither team could score in the second half.
According to Wawasee head coach Paul Boyd, the rain, and at times snow, definitely affected the final score. But he was happy with the way his team played.
"The weather kind of evens things out," Boyd said. "The athletes rise to the occasion and the skills take a back seat in a game like this. (Carroll is) a very good team. I thought Wawasee did fine."
Boyd also had a very simple, yet direct, response to the struggle that his team had to get anything going offensively.
"Play a lot more in the offseason."
Wawasee had just four seniors in the starting lineup against Carroll and just one other senior on the roster. So if the Warriors listen to their head coach, they could definitely look to improve on this year's 4-10-3 record.
Carroll (10-4-2) will move on to play Columbia City on Wednesday.
