Northridge’s opportunity to play for a boys soccer semistate championship depends upon the Raiders getting by No. 13-ranked Homestead and its high school All-American Keegan Harkenrider.
Unranked Northridge (16-3-2) squares off with Homestead (15-4-1) Saturday at 10 a.m. on Hefner Fields at The Plex in Fort Wayne. The No. 16 Warsaw Tigers (13-4-4) face Muncie Central (15-3) in the other semifinal, also at 10 a.m.
Winners return for the championship game at 6 p.m. and a berth in the Final Four on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Kuntz Stadium in Indianapolis. The Fort Wayne winner meets the Evansville champion while winners from Valparaiso and Indianapolis clash in the other.
“Harkenrider is a quality player,” Northridge coach Todd Woodworth said. “We are going to have to stay close to him and limit his touches.”
Harkenrider, who will be playing at NCAA Division-I Denver University next fall, netted the winning goal in Homestead’s 1-0 regional title win over Carroll.
The Raiders have not played Homestead this season.
“While we haven’t played them we have played like opponents,” Woodworth said. “We tied Carroll 1-1 while Homestead won 1-0. We have beaten Warsaw 1-0 and 3-0 while Homestead lost 1-0. We defeated Westview 2-0 and 3-0. Homestead beat them 4-1 or 5-1.
“We need to play well and have proven we can by not losing to a ranked team all season.”
Leading scorers for the Raiders are junior forward Andy Morrison 20 goals, junior Steven Alvarado eight, junior Luke Davis seven, junior Josh Miller three, senior Michael Stalter two, senior Zachary Gibson, junior Ross Jones and junior Logan Lambright one each.
Assist leaders are Alvarado and Davis eight apiece, Josh Miller six, junior Luke Virgil, junior Lucas Miller and Morrison four apiece, junior Joey Salee and Stalter both two, senior Brock King and senior Michael Moses one apiece.
Raider junior Derrick Giddens is the top goalkeeper with 80 saves and 11 shutouts on the season.
Harkenrider and classmate Tom Ault both scored 12 goals for Homestead during the regular season.
Sports
Raider soccer boys take aim
- Sports
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GIRLS BASKETBALL: On to the finals
Northridge’s very young girls basketball team — a squad without a single senior — has the Raiders within one victory of the school’s first-ever sectional championship.
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Panther-Charger final
The No. 3-ranked NorthWood “Black Swish” survived an upset bid by a determined group of Fairfield Falcons Friday night in the high school girls basketball Class 3A sectional at Wawasee.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Kelly, Irish reshuffle coach lineup
When a football team falls short of its goals, changes are often made to the coaching staff.
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BOYS BASKETBALL: Redskins prevail
When a game is on the line, you need for your seniors to step up and show the way to victory.
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BOYS BASKETBALL: Minutemen win
It was a test of wills Thursday night in a high school boys basketball game at Northridge.
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL: No. 23 Indiana charges past Illinois
Indiana coach Tom Crean challenged his team to be tougher than Illinois on Thursday night.
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Season becoming more and more unpredictable
After several excellent weeks of picking winners in local high school boys basketball games it was another down week with the season’s lowest mark at 5-5 (50.0 percent).
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Sometimes it’s more than a game
Most of the time, the phrase, “It’s only a game” applies to sports – especially the high school variety.
But there are exceptions. And last night’s Northridge-Wawasee boys basketball game in Middlebury is one of them. -
The Green Party
It had nothing to do with the environment, but the Middlebury community went “green” last Saturday night.
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Generating a spark
For weeks the Goshen High School boys basketball team has been looking for the kind of big win that can provide a spark to a squad that has worked hard all season but struggled to find the win column as of late.
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