Lady Tigers Down Rivals, Look Forward To Next Challenge
SYRACUSE – What started out as a slow day turned into yet another solid win for the Warsaw girls soccer team.
The Lady Tigers rolled into Syracuse on Saturday afternoon and used a big second half effort to help secure their seventh straight victory with a 5-0 win over rival Wawasee in Northern Lakes Conference play.
Warsaw was given more of challenge then perhaps it expected in the opening minutes as Wawasee would get the game’s first shot on goal but that would prove to be the Lady Warriors only attempted shot in the first half. The Warsaw offense struggled to get anything going until Elizabeth VanWormer broke the nil-nil tie on an assisted goal from Danielle Hutcherson. The Lady Tigers would be held to just a 1-0 lead in the first half despite having an 8-1 advantage in shots on goal.
VanWormer got the scoring started in the second half when she again took an assist from Hutcherson and gave the Lady Tigers a 2-0 lead with 35:08 remaining in the game.
Lady Warrior head coach Doug Heinisch talked about what happened to his team in the second half, “We played well in the first half and then in the second half Warsaw just made some really good adjustments. They’re faster than us. Their front line has a lot more speed than we do and Warsaw just did a good job at utilizing their speed today. You have to give them credit for that.”
Hutcherson took matters into her own hands in the game’s 53′ mark with a goal of her own to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Jamelyn Shirk (65′) and Brooklyn Jackson (67′) had the other two scores for Warsaw.
Warsaw head coach Peter Lucht was proud to see his team pick up the pace in the second half.
“The first half was a little bit of a struggle for us,” said Lucht. “We did not move very fast and they were able to get numbers back and space was limited.
No matter who you play it is tough to score goals like that. In the second half we came out and moved the ball a little bit faster and we were able to create the time and opening that we needed by moving the ball faster.”
Warsaw (9-2-2, 4-1-1) has now outscored opponents 13-0 in its past two games but has a daunting task ahead in Northern Lakes Conference leader Northridge (11-1-2, 5-0) who has won 11 straight matches this season. For Lucht and the Lady Tigers, they cannot wait for the challenge.
“That is going to be a massive game. We have been playing well as of late but so has Northridge and I am just looking forward to a great game. This will be great preparation going into the post season with both teams firing on all cylinders. It will be a great match,” Lucht stated.
Northridge and Warsaw will play Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Warsaw High School.
Wawasee (0-13, 0-5) will travel to Elkhart to take on Elkhart Memorial with first kick set for 6:30 p.m.