N'Wood, Penn For Title

The Goshen News Friday, October 15, 2010

Panthers defeat Memorial while Lady Kingsmen down Concord

Four was the winning number Thursday night in semifinals of the girls soccer sectional at Concord High School.
The NorthWood Panthers defeated the Elkhart Memorial Crimson Chargers, 4-1, before the Penn Kingsmen topped the Concord Minutemen, 4-0.
NorthWood (12-4-3) and the No. 12-ranked Kingsmen (14-2-2) square off for the championship Saturday at 1 pm. The winner faces the champion from East Noble in the Penn regional on Wednesday. NorthWood got off to a quick start thanks to the Stutzman sisters. Senior Kami Stutzman found the net at 33:43 of the opening half and sophomore Taylor Stutzman was credited with the assist.
Kami has been the heart and soul of the team all season. Taylor has directed things from up top," NorthWood coach Phil Ummel said.
Memorial tied the score as junior Brionna Barnett tallied an unassisted goal at 25:56.
We have not been the best first half team this season," Ummel said. "After we scored we let up. In the second half we did a much better job of keeping the pressure on them."
Taylor Stutzman put the Panthers added second-half goals form senior Kristyn Burt (freshman Kaitlyn Heckaman assist) at 32:57 and Kami Stutzman (Taylor Stutzman) at 7:52.
Memorial coach Donald Knowlton said, "NorthWood finished things. We have some injury problems, but I don't want to take anything away from what NorthWood accomplished."
NorthWood had advantages of 16-4 in shots on goal and 12-2 in corner kicks. Junior Danae Ehret made three keeper saves for the Panthers. The Crimson Chargers finish 6-10-2.
Penn also got off to a fast start as junior Kathryn Hojara scored assisted by classmate Katherine Burns at 36:44 of the opening half. "Penn came at us from the get go" Concord coach Todd Hesselbart said. "They had had us on our heels from the start. They never backed down."
Penn took a 2-0 half-time lead as junior Taylor Kachmarik scored assisted by senior Bailey Personette at 29:08.
We intended to keep the pressure on Concord," Penn coach Mike Luber said. "We dictated the play and we did it from the first whistle."
Burns scored for Penn assisted by junior Joanna Madias at 36:01 of the second half and senior Allison Scholtes added the other goal with 6:12 remining.
Penn led 9-2 in shots on goal and 11-4 in corners. Sophomore Yohana Romero and freshman Jennifer Miller combined on five keeper saves for Concord. Junior Ayzia Folstrom made two for Penn.
Concord finishes 11-5-1.
"Penn has a lot of talent. A couple of their players have (NCAA) Division I talent," Hesselbart said. "They proved they are the No. 12 team in the state." "We were too loose, which is the exact opposite of homw we played the other night against Northridge. We gave Penn miles of room to run.