SOUTH BEND — Adams boys soccer entered this week one of the hottest teams in the area, winners of six-straight matches.
Within 24 hours, that had turned into a two-game losing streak.
A heartbreaking penalty kicks loss to Penn Tuesday was followed by a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Northridge Wednesday, the first setbacks the Eagles have had since Sept. 4. It’s a minor setback for a team looking to win its first sectional championship since 2021.
“We should have taken care of business,” said Adams coach Cristian Mihut after Wednesday’s loss. “If we make it through sectionals, there’ll be a quick turnover between games like this, so we should have done a much better job (Wednesday). You learn all sorts of things in games like this.”
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It was a tough turnaround for Adams Wednesday after the loss to Penn the night before. The Eagles erased two different deficits to tie the game with the Kingsmen, sending it to overtime and eventually penalty kicks. Penn would prevail, 5-4, in the PKs, ending a match that took more than three hours to finish, in part to a weather delay at the start.
Even though it was a loss to the Kingsmen, Mihut was proud of his team’s resiliency against the Northern Indiana Conference leaders.
“We played very well (Tuesday),” Mihut said. “You lose in PKs, that shouldn’t be a big deal, but I think the reality is we’re physical beings. The physical fatigue translated into the mental fatigue (Wednesday), and you could tell the energy wasn’t the same that helped us comeback against Penn. I hope the boys learn ‘mind over matter’ from this because there will be other games where we’re as fatigued as we were going into this game.”
Wednesday was just the second three-goal loss of the season for the Eagles, who sit at 8-6 with two regular season matches remaining. They, like the other teams around the state, will learn its sectional draw Sunday when the IHSAA releases the bracket as part of a one-hour show starting at 7 p.m. Mishawaka Marian is expected to be the other top contender in the Class 3A sectional alongside Adams.
“We do have to work on our mental game,” Mihut said. “We have to work on our transition game, from offense to defense and defense to offense. Those are the big things for us.”
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Northridge gearing up for tough sectional
The Raiders (7-4-2) had the benefit of rest on their side Wednesday, as they had not played a match in six days. That was a 1-0 victory for Northridge against No. 3 (1A) Bethany Christian, which coach Lawrence Baltazar said was a big moment for him in the season.
“They’re a smaller school, but they’re very organized and get a lot of numbers back,” Baltazar said. “We pulled off a 1-0 win against them, and I felt the guys turned a corner a little bit there by not getting frustrated. They stuck at it and eventually got the goal. They’ve been sticking together as the season’s gone on; we’re playing better.”
Having Julius Esquivias helps make Northridge a dangerous team once again come postseason time. The junior scored all three goals Wednesday, giving him 17 for the season.
It’s a gauntlet of a Class 3A sectional for the Raiders as five of the area’s best programs in them, Penn (8-3-2), Concord (9-2-1), Goshen (9-3-1), Elkhart (7-4-1) and Warsaw (10-1-2) are part of the field.
“Everybody knows how good every team is, so you almost don’t worry about the draw as much,” Baltazar said. “Does it really matter? You’re going to have to beat some really good teams. The best case is maybe you get a bye and only have to beat two good teams to win your sectional. What we’re just trying to focus on is not giving up goals and playing better defense.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Adams, Northridge boys soccer learn lessons from Wednesday's match
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