Agonizing end to HNS soccer season

Sports

October 27, 2009

By Greg Keim The Goshen News Tue Oct 27, 2009, 09:30 AM EDT

Northridge’s bad luck in penalty kick shootouts continued Monday.

The unranked Raiders lost, 2-1, to No. 13 Homestead in semifinals of a boys soccer semistate at The Plex in Fort Wayne.

The contest was tied 1-1 at the end of 80 minutes of regulation. Neither team scored in the two 14-minute overtime periods, forcing the shootout.

Both teams made four penalty kicks in the first shootout The second shootout is sudden death.

Homestead junior Kyle Green scored for the Spartans and senior goalkeeper Justin Hanford stopped Northridge’s shot, ending the marathon.

“What a disappointment for the kids,” Northridge coach Todd Woodworth said.

“You always know when you get to this time of the season that a game can go to a shootout. This is the fifth or sixth time in a row our season has ended like this. We went to the 13th shooter in the sectional championship a year ago with Westview. It’s a hard way to lose.”

Homestead coach Paco Castillo said, “Northridge played a great game. I think in the end it came down to our experience. We have eight senior starters and in the end that showed.

“Northridge has a fine team and I have nothing but good things to say about their team and coach.”

Northridge finishes 16-4-2.

Homestead (16-4-1) faces Warsaw (14-4-4) in today’s championship game at 4 p.m. The Warsaw Tigers were a 3-1 winner over Muncie Central in Monday’s other semifinal.

Northridge dominated much of the action in the opening half and took a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute when junior forward Andy Morrison scored, assisted by junior midfielder Luke Virgil.

“We played a great first half,” Woodworth said. “But after we scored, we started to get too defensive instead of playing to win.”

The score remained 1-0 until the Spartans scored in the 68th minute on a goal by senior forward Thomas Ault, assisted by senior forward Keegan Harkenrider.

“After Homestead scored, and in both of the overtimes, we went back to playing to win,” Woodworth said. “We had a person in front of the net late in the game with a great chance to score but didn’t capitalize.”

Homestead took a quick 1-0 lead in the first shootout as senior midfielder Connor McMahon scored and Hanford stopped a Raider try.

The Spartans then went up 2-0 as junior forward Michael Wendlandt scored. Junior forward Andy Morrison scored for the Raiders who trailed 2-1.

Homestead’s attempt by Ault went wide of the net and junior forward Steven Alvarado evened the score 2-2 for the Raiders.

Senior midfielder David Wirtner put Homestead up 3-2 only to have Northridge junior midfielder Lucas Miller tie it 3-3.

Senior defender Ben Hazen put the Spartans back in the lead putting the pressure on Northridge’s final shooter junior defender Joey Salee. The Raider youngster scored, forcing the second shootout.

“The only real strategy is putting your best penalty kickers in there,” Woodworth said.

Northridge’s defense took a hit with 2:16 left in regulation when senior defender Brock King exited with an injury.

“He took a hit and was a little bit fuzzy, but I think he will be OK,” Woodworth said. “He took a similar hit awhile back and missed a couple games.”

Northridge had a 10-6 advantage in shots on goal and Homestead a 7-3 edge in corner kicks.

Hanford made eight keeper saves for the Spartans and junior Derrick Giddens five for the Raiders, including a diving one with 1:15 left to play to force the extra sessions.

Text Only

Sports

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.

February 11, 2012 2 Photos
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.

February 11, 2012 2 Photos
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Kelly, Irish reshuffle coach lineup
When a football team falls short of its goals, changes are often made to the coaching staff.

February 11, 2012 1 Photo
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.

February 10, 2012 2 Photos
BOYS BASKETBALL: Minutemen win
It was a test of wills Thursday night in a high school boys basketball game at Northridge.

February 10, 2012 2 Photos
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: No. 23 Indiana charges past Illinois
Indiana coach Tom Crean challenged his team to be tougher than Illinois on Thursday night.

February 10, 2012 1 Photo
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).

February 9, 2012
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.

February 9, 2012 1 Photo
The Green Party
It had nothing to do with the environment, but the Middlebury community went “green” last Saturday night.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
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.

February 8, 2012 1 Photo
More Sports Headlines

The Goshen Housing Authority has a $571,050 shortfall. Should the Goshen City Council use money from its $4.7-million “rainy day” fund to pay the debt and maintain the current level of service provided by the voucher program?

Sports

Search Results

Agonizing end to HNS soccer season

The Goshen Housing Authority has a $571,050 shortfall. Should the Goshen City Council use money from its $4.7-million “rainy day” fund to pay the debt and maintain the current level of service provided by the voucher program?

Site Map