PREP BOYS SOCCER: No. 16 Bethany Christian rallies back from deficit for 2-2 draw against West Noble

GOSHEN — In a full 80-minute soccer match between a pair of potential future sectional opponents, an 18-minute period contained all the goals scored in a 2-2 draw between No. 16 (2A) Bethany Christian and West Noble Thursday in Goshen.

Scoring the final two goals of the game, senior midfielder Jude Miller helped the Bruins (5-2-1) avoid its first shutout loss on its home pitch this season.

“Jude always puts himself in the right place at the right time,” Bethany Christian head coach Tony Janzen said. “Both times he was there for tap-ins.”

Thursday’s nonconference matchup between the host Bruins and visiting Chargers (6-2-1) had a different flair to it than matchups between the two schools in the past.

Bethany Christian, playing up a class this season because of success-factor, has been placed into the West Noble sectional this season. That grouping not only includes the No. 16 Bruins, but also No. 10 Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger and No. 11 Leo.

Adding onto that, former Bethany Christian head coach and former principal Hank Willems was on the other sideline in his first season coaching West Noble. Willems was greeted by Bethany players and spectators after the game.

Talking about his team’s 2-0 blown second-half lead, he was disappointed defensively.

“We gave them life,” Willems said. “We swung and missed, tapped a ball and just didn’t clear a ball. When you give a good team an opportunity to get back into a game, they’ll do that.”

“All the things that were really dangerous came off dead-ball stuff. It’s something we’re working on all the time.”

Bethany Christian and West Noble battled for the first 20 minutes with just a few scoring opportunities on either end. Both keepers made a pair of early saves to keep the game scoreless.

After Bethany’s freshman keeper Steven Reiff saved a Chargers’ shot bounding off a corner, senior forward Zane Parson found himself in a one-on-one chance with the West Noble keeper. A shot from Parsons was deflected and the Bruins came up empty on its first real chance of the afternoon.

“That’s a different game if that first one-on-one goes in,” Janzen said.

As the first-half clock melted under the late summer sun, West Noble transformed a scoreless first 40-minutes into a lead at the break. Leo Lopez broke away from the Bruin defense and his shot was tapped back a charging Reiff for a score at the 39th minute.

“We just lost track,” Janzen said. “We felt like we had five or six guys back there and they had one and we lost track of him and didn’t win the 50/50 ball and then gave up a goal. It’s kind of the lack of intensity and effort tonight at times that I was expecting.”

The Bruins, coming off a road 3-1 win over conference rival Elkhart Christian on Tuesday, beat themselves repeatedly in the first half.

It continued into the second portion of Thursday’s game.

West Noble doubled its lead at the 47th-minute when Christian Estrada nailed a shot after curving in from the left side of the post. It was the third shot of the second half as the Chargers ambushed out of the break.

“We came out and in the first 10 minutes we were really good again,” Willems said. “We had control and had them pinned back. Then we allowed bad things to happen.”

Bethany got on the board just a minute later. Coming off a corner kick, the ball sailed in from the right corner and with the ball loose in the box, Miller cleaned up the mess and cut the visitors lead it half with 32 minutes remaining.

Nine minutes later, Miller was on the board again. After Parsons tapped the ball, Miller charged in for the score, his sixth of the season. At the 57-minute mark, the game was knotted up at two apiece.

“We work a lot on our set pieces on our long throw-ins and our corners,” Janzen said. “We feel like if we can put the other team under pressure in those situations, good things are going to happen. We were able to do that in both those situations. We had more chances with those; we just couldn’t quite get the final shot or the final pass.”

Neither team could net the game-winner, but an intense final two-minute period made it a thriller finish.

After Reiff blocked another shot toward his net, a Bethany defender blocked the rebounding shot with his turned back. That led to the Bruins gaining possession before the Chargers were called for a foul on the left side of the pitch and approaching the scoring box.

Lian Espinosa-Lopez took the free kick and his shot was on the money, but blocked by the outstretched fingers of the Charger keeper. A corner opportunity results, but turned into a charge down the other way. This time, a Bethany defender was called for a foul and West Noble had the chance for a direct free kick from straight on.

Ronaldo Jimenez took the boot, but Reiff tipped the ball over the frame and the Chargers’ corner was knocked away by the Bruins as the clock struck zero.

“I felt like we created enough chances tonight to win the game; we were finally able to score a couple,” Janzen said. “I told the guys I was proud of them for coming back. We were kind of the makers of our own demise in those first two goals. For them to continue to play and score those two goals and have opportunities to score more, I’m proud of the effort. They just gotta know that they gotta be more consistent throughout the game.”

Notably, senior Sawyer Beachy made his return to the pitch after the Detroit-Mercy commit suffered an ankle sprain in the Bruins' third game of the season. He missed three weeks with an injury but healed quickly enough to miss just four games.

Beachy came off the bench at the 20-minute mark of the first half. He’s a key part of the Bruins scoring attack as well as its on-the-pitch leaders.

“It was good to see Sawyer come back and play his first game in three weeks,” Janzen said. “We’ll slowly work him back and hopefully he get back to 100%.”

This is the second team that Bethany Christian has played from its Class 2A sectional field. The Bruins lost to Bishop Dwenger 4-2 a week ago. The sectional field also includes Angola, Garrett and Lakeland, in addition to the Bruins, Chargers, Saints and Leo.

No. 16 (2A) Bethany Christian stays at home for the next three games. The Bruins host Fort Wayne Bishop Luers on Saturday at 7 p.m. and will also host Goshen on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Northridge next Thursday at 5 p.m.

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PREP BOYS SOCCER

#16 Bethany Christian ties West Noble 2-2

JV Score: 0-0 (half game)

Scoring

W (39’) — Leo Lopez scores, unassisted (W 1-0)

W (47’) — Christian Estrada scores (W 2-0)

B (48’) — Jude Miller scores, assisted by Trey Caffee (W 2-1)

B (57’) — Jude Miller scores, assisted by Zane Parson (Tied 2-2)

Shots, on goal: Bethany (11, 6), West Noble (13, 8)

Corners: Bethany (6), West Noble (4)

Goalie saves: Bethany (4), West Noble (4)

Fouls: Bethany (4), West Noble (7)

Records: Bethany Christian (5-2-1), West Noble (6-2-1)