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GOSHEN — The good news for the Warsaw Tigers was that they saved some of their best for last. The bad news was that it was still their last.
The Tigers, even with senior standout Lola Pepper back in the lineup, could not ultimately solve defensive-minded Northridge and fell to the No. 13-ranked Raiders 1-0 in Saturday night’s Class 3A Goshen Sectional girls soccer championship.
“The ladies fought incredibly well,” Warsaw coach Zach Harding said. “It was probably the best game they’ve played all year. We just couldn’t get it in the net.”
It wasn’t for a lack of trying.
The Tigers managed nine shots on goal to Northridge’s five and fought their way to seven corner kicks to the winners’ three, but Raider senior keeper Lily Vasil made a couple diving saves and deflected another shot over the crossbar while blanking Warsaw 1-0 for the second time in nine days.
In addition, a pulled-out-of-position Vasil was bailed out by a teammate on one point-blank Tiger shot in the first half, Warsaw senior Madi Nolin managed to hit the post on a difficult, wide-angle shot with 16 minutes remaining in the game and Pepper was virtually tri-tackled in the box to suffocate the Tigers’ last prime chance at about three minutes left.
Northridge (15-2-2) improved to 14-0-1 over its last 15 games, registered its ninth shutout in its last 10 outings and recorded its fifth straight one-goal win.
Warsaw closed 8-6-2, five of those losses coming against currently ranked teams.
“They’re just really comfortable back there,” Harding said of the Raider defense. “They play tight to each other and keep a disciplined formation and stack the box well when they need to, and their goalie is top notch, probably the best goalie I’ve seen this year.”
Northridge got the game’s lone score in the 16th minute when senior Ana Zmuda’s soft liner from about 12 yards out on the right wing skimmed through the hands of Warsaw junior keeper Audi Gonzalez and narrowly cleared the goal line before Gonzalez could chase it down.
After that, the Raiders mostly just hung on, rarely mounting serious threats.
“Warsaw put a lot of pressure on us,” Northridge coach Chris Malott praised of the Tigers, “(especially in) the second half of that second half. They were pushing, knocking on the door a couple different times.”
Pepper, the Butler commit appearing for just the second time in Warsaw’s last 13 games after suffering an early-season foot injury, was often in the thick of creating the Tigers’ best chances even though she primarily played defense early before more frequently pushing up later.
“She’s 100%,” Harding said of Pepper, declining to blame his team’s loss on his star’s rust. “She’s been practicing in full for a month. She’s just been pacing herself (in terms of game action) to make sure she didn’t get hurt again.”
The Raiders added their second sectional title in three years to their third straight Northern Lakes Conference crown.
They’ll visit No. 17 Penn (11-4-4) for a 6 p.m. regional semifinal Thursday.
Warsaw, the sectional champ in 2024, barely missed forging a three-way tie for the NLC title at 6-1 when it fell to Northridge in each team’s regular-season finale on Oct. 2.
“I’ve loved working with and serving the ladies,” Harding said of his first year leading the Tigers. “I think it was a successful season overall, particularly with missing Lola, but obviously it was not the outcome we wanted tonight.”
While Warsaw will graduate Pepper, who had six goals in just five games, and four other seniors, 40 of the team’s 49 goals overall were scored by underclassmen, including 10 from sophomore Evie Pepper, eight by sophomore Natalie Hoeppner and eight by junior Amy Escutia-Palacios.
