Dillon Drake slides to make this save for Wawasee during Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Concord. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE — The third time was not the charm for the Wawasee boys soccer team.

After playing two games earlier this week, a loss and a draw, the Warriors were ready to notch their first victory but were denied by a determined and experienced Concord squad. The Minutemen outlasted the Warriors and the rain to earn a 3-0 win.

“The biggest frustration,” posed Wawasee head coach Jordan Sharp, “is that we had two games already this week. So, we’re a little leggy, a little tired, which isn’t the most fun. We don’t really have the subs to work people in and out the way we’d like to. However, I was still impressed with how the guys played today.”

Wawasee put itself in a hole early after Concord’s Ben Rich scored the games first goal in the opening 10 minutes of play. The remainder of the first half was competitive, heads-up play between the two Northern Lakes Conference foes until the final minute. Rich struck again, this time using his head to give the Minutemen the goal. Concord led 2-0 at the break.

The Minutemen seemed to wear their opponents down in the second half, playing much of the first 20 minutes on Wawasee’s end of the field. Christian Saleh was able to reap the rewards of this constant pressure as he gave Concord its final goal (55′).

Wawasee’s chances were few and far between on offense. Chris Pena had a shot on goal in the first half but outside of that the Warriors were limited. Wawasee’s best chance came later in the second half when Ryan Edington drew a penalty kick. Carter Jones took the kick for the Warriors and was denied by Concord keeper Quinn Miller. Jones was alert and went after the deflection and was able to fire a second shot to the opposite side of the goal, but Miller was quick and denied Wawasee’s senior a second time.

“We stuck to the way we wanted to play today,” Sharp said. “We still created opportunities that we wanted to create. We just didn’t finish on those opportunities, unfortunately. There as the PK, there was Chris Pena’s chance in the first half.

“There were a couple other chances we had where we looked dangerous, but we have to bury those shots, especially against a team like that.”

Sharp knows his team missed chances, but was impressed with the competitiveness his team had for the majority of the game.

“We competed against Concord today,” Sharp remarked. “We played well against them, we had our opportunities. We were there. I’m going to talk to the boys about their fitness. We’re not quite game fit yet. You work on that in the offseason but you can’t really be game fit until you play a few games. I’m going to talk to them about that, not to dismiss their performance but because I do understand that was part of it today.”

Wawasee (0-2-1) will play at Hamilton on Monday.

Concord’s JV defeated Wawasee 12-0.