<p>The first three games of the season didn’t go quite how the Whiteland boys soccer team had hoped, but the Warriors seem to have found their stride.</p>
<p>Hosting county rival Greenwood, the Warriors came storming out of the gate and put up seven first-half goals en route to a convincing 8-0 victory on Thursday.</p>
<p>The win elevated Whiteland to 2-3 overall and evened its Mid-State Conference record at 1-1.</p>
<p>"To come back and get two wins right in a row, that’s good momentum," Whiteland senior Shawn Sullivan said. "It’s a conference win; we really needed that since we lost our first conference game. … It’s good momentum going forward."</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>It didn’t take long for the Warriors to build momentum against the Woodmen, as Trevor Pike scored the game’s first goal from the right side just 5:38 into the match. Sullivan made it 2-0 in the 14th minute, and he converted a penalty kick five minutes later to become the school’s all-time scoring leader with his 31st career tally.</p>
<p>Greenwood keeper Cole Mahan, under siege for almost the entire first 40 minutes, made a phenomenal sliding save midway through the half to prevent what looked like another sure goal, but it didn’t take long for the Warriors to get back on the board.</p>
<p>Drake White punched home a second-effort shot off of a corner kick in the 24th minute, and the lead stretched to 5-0 on an own goal when a Woodmen defender inadvertently knocked in the rebound of a Sullivan header that had caromed off the crossbar. White added his second goal from point-blank range, and Van Liana capped the first-half onslaught by going airborne to volley home a Tristan Thomas corner with just over four minutes on the clock.</p>
<p>The Woodmen tightened up a bit defensively after the intermission and put up more of a fight, but by that point it was too little, too late. Whiteland got its final goal from Nathan Contreras with 5:36 left in the contest.</p>
<p>"We got down mentally early, and it took a while to get out of that," Greenwood coach Dan Weber said.</p>
<p>For Whiteland, the win was a nice confidence builder after opening the schedule with three defeats against tough opponents.</p>
<p>"Starting 0-3 is tough, especially with high school kids, but they’ve weathered the storm," coach Justin VanHorn said. "We played Plainfield tight; we went to two overtimes with them. We played Seymour pretty well. So we’re clicking right now, and as long as we can keep that momentum going, I think we’re going to have a really good rest of the season. I’m excited about it."</p>
<p>The Woodmen (0-4, 0-2) have several days to lick their wounds before returning to action next Thursday at Mooresville. Weber believes his team has four winnable matches ahead and thinks a reversal of fortune could be ahead.</p>
<p>"We’ve got a week to rest now and get healed up," he said. "Hopefully we can make a good run and bring this thing back to 4-4."</p>
