WARSAW – It took some time, but Warsaw finally settled in for a nice girls soccer home win.

Leading a depleted NorthWood side just 1-0 heading into the second half, Warsaw turned up the pressure and eventually wore down the Panthers, 4-0, Thursday night in sunny Warsaw.

In what was a lopsided game from the start, Warsaw peppered keeper Madi Eberle and the NorthWood goal early and often. Just five minutes into the game, Brooklyn Jackson whistled a shot off the crossbar, and four minutes later, the Tigers found paydirt. A sequence of crisp passes had Alyssa Atkins make a run through the teeth of the NorthWood defense and slot home a winner. The 1-0 lead, despite Warsaw’s constant pressure on NorthWood, would hold true through 40 minutes.

“We were just outmanned today, and we knew that coming in,” NorthWood head coach Phil Ummel said. “We have a lot of injuries, and it’s not an excuse, and without question we played hard. We kept the game to a one-goal game for a half, we just couldn’t get that one goal back.”

Just three minutes into the second half, the cracks in the middle of NorthWood’s assembly finally started to give way. Elizabeth Van Wormer took advantage of some space on the ball, turned on a shot and beat Eberle high side for a 2-0 lead.

Van Wormer wasn’t done. In the 63rd minute, the clever midfielder found space behind the defense and beat Eberle again on a nice one-on-one move for her second goal of the night.

A left-footed rocket from Alex Koontz in the 73rd minute was all she wrote, but the statement had been made.

“I know they are dealing with injuries and I don’t want to discredit them,” stated Warsaw head coach Peter Lucht. “Good coach, good team and part of the NLC group. I don’t want to discredit them, but our girls just played a very good game tonight. It was a very good win to get.”

In all, Warsaw was absolutely dominant on the ball. The Tigers outshot the Panthers 18-1, NorthWood’s only scoring opportunity coming in the 25th minute off a soft shot by Cassie Yoder following a corner kick. Allison Hill, who didn’t need to do much to earn the shutout, had a defense in front of her that kept NorthWood out of the Warsaw third the entire second half.

“It was great to see it happen, especially this early in the season,” Lucht said of his team’s defensive work. “We’ve got four defenders back from last year, so we should see some continuity.”

NorthWood, which entered the night down six players to various injuries and plights, falls to 1-4 on the year with the Argos Invitational this weekend, but Ummel isn’t writing his team off just yet.

“This team has had a lot of new kids stepping into roles they haven’t had yet,” Ummel said, who also lost seven seniors to graduation including all-time leading scorer Val Ostrowski, who scored 34 goals last year and 81 in her career. “We’re not worried about last year. We are working for right now. The girls are working hard, and I am throwing a lot at them. They are doing great handling everything so far.”

Warsaw moves to 2-0 on the year after opening with a big win at Mishawaka Marian. Lucht’s side will take on Goshen Tuesday in NLC play.

The JV contest, which was cut to one half given the NorthWood injury situation concerning overall able bodies, was all Warsaw. The Tigers scored early and often to claim a 5-0 victory in just 40 minutes of play. Goal scorers for the victors were Jubilee Stichter, Kennedy Patton, Lexi Myers, Maddy Martz and Tsige Berelsman.