Lady Tigers Blank Northrop BruinsIn their first eight games of the season, the Fort Wayne Northrop Bruins allowed just three goals.
The Warsaw Lady Tigers scored on the Bruins twice Monday, both in the second half, and shut them out.
With the 2-0 non-conference girls soccer victory, Warsaw improved to 7-4-1 on the season, while Northrop fell to 6-2-1.
“It’s always good, not only to get a win but to get another shutout,” said first-year Warsaw coach Jon Hoover. “It’s been a little while since we’ve had that, and we got a lot of players on the field tonight. It’s good to get them minutes, and they played well.
“We’re definitely not there yet, but I do feel like in the second half we played much better. I’m encouraged. You can’t complain with any win you get. It’s good to get one, and we’ll just continue to move forward.”
Sophomore Brenna Buhrt broke the scoreless tie in the 55th minute when she took an assist from classmate Delaney Taylor and put it past Northrop goalkeeper Eindra Maung.
In the 64th minute of the 80-minute contest, sophomore Abby Steffensmeier gave the Lady Tigers an insurance goal off an assist from junior Anna Grill.
“Brenna, she does everything for us ... she’s playing outside, playing the middle, she’s just a playmaker,” said Hoover. “Delaney Taylor set her up really well. Delaney has a ton of assists this year, she’s our leading assist person right now. She’s very unselfish, great ball through, and Brenna is just very collected in front of the net, so she just tucked it way.
“It was good to get Abby’s (goal) as well. It kind of gave us a little breathing room to rest on the bench a little bit.”
The shutout was Warsaw’s sixth of the season, and wasn’t just any shutout.
Prior to Monday, Northrop had outscored its eight opponents 49-3.
In each of their six wins, the Bruins scored at least six goals.
The Lady Tigers shutout out Northrop’s JV team as well, and got a last-minute goal from Sarah Ocock to lift them to a 1-0 victory.
After playing four games in eight days, Warsaw is now off until Monday when it travels to Fort Wayne Snider.
“We’ve played game on, day off for four games now,” said Hoover. “It’s been tiring. That probably played into our movement a little bit today. We’re excited to rest and get back at it.
“Playing four games in eight days, I think it played a factor, but I’m excited to get to practice and move the ball quicker, and be able to pinpoint some of the areas that we can grow in.”
