Tiger Cubs fall to Patriots 4-1 on Senior Night

Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Greencastle junior Paul Heithaus scored Greencastle's only goal during Tuesday's match against Terre Haute North.

In its second to last regular season game, the Greencastle boys' soccer team faced off with the Patriots of Terre Haute North on Senior Night Tuesday. The Tiger Cubs battled, but came up short 4-1.

The Patriots utilized deft passing and an aggressive attack to keep the Tiger Cubs on their heels during the first 20 minutes of the first half. But it was the Tiger Cubs who would score first.

With 21:29 on the clock, Greencastle junior Paul Heithaus launched a powerful kick from midfield toward Terre Haute North keeper Myles Curry. As the long shot approached, Curry allowed the ball to hit in front of him and Heithaus benefited from a friendly bounce from his home pitch. The ball went over Curry's head and found the net for the match's first points.

"We've been trying to get Paul on target with those long balls all year because he has the leg to do it. The guy misreads the hop and we're up," GHS head coach Dave Lilly said.

The Patriots were able to respond with 11:46 on the clock when James Welch scored off a corner kick from Chris Knight to tie the match 1-all.

Terre Haute North took the lead just before halftime when Jacob Wilson scored with 2:01 left in the half.

"I was happy with the first half," Lilly said. "The mental mistakes though that we, on the restarts and those corner kick goals, has been a problem for us all year long. We've just got to do a better job on those restarts and free kicks and keeping them out. It comes down to man-marking assignments and wanting to get there stronger than the other guys does."

Terre Haute North added two more goals to its tally in the second half, while holding the Tiger Cubs scoreless to secure a 4-1 victory.

Following the loss, Greencastle honored seniors Nick Tharp, Josh Mills, Sam Sloan and Dylan Bruner on Senior Night. Lilly noted the difference between his squad and bigger schools such at Terre Haute North comes down to numbers.

"Obviously Terre Haute North, being a large school, every year they fill in their numbers," Lilly said. "They started 12 seniors against us last year on senior night and they had 12 seniors on their roster again versus our four and Dylan's first game.

"We're young and small and they were much bigger and faster than we were."

Greencastle will host Cascade on Thursday in its regular-season finale at 5 p.m. The match will decide the West Central Conference title and give the Tiger Cubs a look at its first round sectional opponent.

"I think we're going to be OK with Cascade back-to-back now," Lilly said. "We have them Thursday for conference. We have to win to beat them for conference and then we play them in the first round in the sectional again. It's tough seeing someone back-to-back."

At Greencastle

Terre Haute North 2 2 -- 4

Greencastle 1 0 -- 1

First Half

GHS -- Heithaus 21:29

THN -- Welch 11:46

THN -- Wilson 2:01

Second Half

THN --Wilson 22:00

THN -- Paul-Bonham 15:42