NorthWood, Penn in championship match

Sports

October 16, 2009

By GREG KEIM The Goshen News Fri Oct 16, 2009, 10:06 AM EDT

Penn is a team most expected to be in the championship game while NorthWood is the one which might surprise some, expect for diehard Panther fans.

Penn edged Concord 2-0 and NorthWood defeated Northridge 2-0 in Thursday night’s semifinals of a high school girls soccer sectional at Goshen.

Penn (15-2) and NorthWood (12-5-2) square off Saturday at 7 p.m. in the finale.

The winner faces the champion from Bethany Christian in a one-game regional Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Goshen. The semistate follows at Crown Point on Saturday, Oct. 24.

NorthWood took an early lead when junior midfielder Kami Stutzman found the net in the 9th minute. Sophomore midfielder Cassie Dyksen was credited with the assist.

“Scoring first was definitely a key,” NorthWood coach Phil Ummel said. “Northridge is a solid team in back. I saw them play several times this season and I was impressed every time.

“We know how Northridge plays and felt that if we played our game we could give them a game.”

Northridge coach Bill Redinger said, “NorthWood came out and was the aggressor. They played to win and had us on our heels. We allowed them to dictate pace and possession.

“The first goal rattled us for awhile. It’s only the third time all year we have been behind.”

Northridge (16-2) trailed only Columbus North (3-0 loss) and Fort Wayne Canterbury (4-3 win but Northridge trailed 2-1) during the season.

“We tied the school record for wins and set school records with 14 shutouts and allowing only nine goals,” Redinger said.

“There is not much you can say to the girls after one like this. We tried to tell them it hurts, tomorrow it will sting and next week you can be proud of the season we had.”

NorthWood notched its second goal in the 65th minute as junior forward Kristyn Burt scored, assisted by sophomore Hillary Lechlitner.

“The last couple of games we have done a better job at staying organized,” Ummel said. “We always talk about peaking at this time of the season. You want to be playing your best soccer now and I think we are doing just that.”

Northridge had an 8-3 advantage in shots on goals while both teams had two corner kicks.

Sophomore Danae Ehret made eight keeper saves for the winners and junior Kaytlynn Coulter one for Northridge.

“Ehret is coming along. She just started playing soccer last year,” Ummel said. “A year ago, we had a senior goalie and no one else. One of the other girls on the team talked to Ehret about trying soccer.

“She is about 6-0 tall, very athletic and has extremely good hands. Her first day in practice she reached out with one hand and stopped a shot. I remember thinking she can stick around.”

NorthWood set a school record for wins Tuesday and extended it Thursday.

The Opener

Penn got a goal in the 14th minute from sophomore forward Katherine Burns, assisted by sophomore forward Kathryn Hojara and a another in the 73rd on a penalty kick by senior defender Samantha Trail.

“I’m proud of the girls. Penn beat us 6-0 during the season,” Concord coach Kate Hummel said. “We had been talking about believing in ourselves. We played with more heart than I have sever seen. We got a couple of unlucky breaks. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Penn had 10 shots and seven corners. Concord had a corner. Senior Kayla Werst made seven keeper saves for Concord (9-4-3).

“Concord applied good pressure and stretched us. They really pressed us wide,” Penn coach Mike Luber said. “We were not winning many balls at midfield, but in the last 15 minutes of the second half we got that under control.”

Hummel said, “We tried to spread Penn out as much as we could, but the ball was not skipping out way. One thing we worked on since the last time was marking much tighter and being more disciplined on our marks.”

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