Little Ten Conference Soccer Tournament

With the Norsemen soccer regular season coming to an end, the Norsemen prepared for their conference tournament starting October 6th. Coming in to the tournament off a 10-3 Norsemen win over Plano, Newark had confidence and it showed for their first match against Paw Paw, with Newark picking up a 4-2 victory. The Norsemen would move on to face a very talented Hinckley Big-Rock team. Right out of the gate Newark took a 1-nothing lead but failed to score any more and lost the match 4-1 sending Newark to the 3rd place game.

In the third place game Newark was set to face a good Serena team that they had already played twice before. Newark lost their first match against Serena in the Paw Paw tournament, a tournament that Newark won. Later in the season Newark faced off against Serena on their Homecoming game. In a game that defender Mitchel Schmidt described as “intense”, Newark picked up the victory 2-1.

Early in the third place game Newark took a 1-0 lead off of a penalty kick. Shortly after, Serena tied the game. Again, Newark took the lead and Serena came back and tied it. Nearing the end of the game with it tied 2-2, Midfielder Matt Eike put a beautiful shot on goal from the corner to take the lead with 40 seconds remaining in the game.

Newark finished the season strong with a first ever showing in the regional championship. Congratulations on a great season from all of us here at NCHS!

By Steve McGrath and Austin Dike