Panther duo thrives on the pitch at Wartburg

Creston natives and class of 2017 Creston Panthers Gavin Woods and Ben Irr recently completed their fall soccer season for the Wartburg men’s soccer second team (JV) that went 4-1-1.

Woods notched four goals as a forward/wing and Ben Irr worked mainly in the midfield for the Knights.

Woods found his touch more and more throughout the season and was a part of several personnel changes.

“He played as a forward for the most of the season, as the year went on, we did have to shift him as an outside midfielder due to some personnel changes/ injury,” Wartburg coach Justin Kaiser said. “It’s a long hard season for those guys so it’s not uncommon for players to play multiple positions. “But he scored four or five goals for our second team. He finds really good pockets of space in and around the box and he creates chances as a result of that.”

The adjustment to the skill of play presented a challenge at first for Woods.

He noted that every player on the field is good for the first time in his soccer career.

“At this level of the game, everything is so much faster and every player is talented,” Woods said. “But with the help of the coaches and other teammates, I started to get used to it.”

Irr issued a similar sentiment.

“As I transitioned to the college game, everything just moves faster,” Irr said. “Simply being able to play at a high level any day in and out has allowed me to improve my game a lot.”

His midifield play was a valuable asset to the Knights’ second team during a successful season.

“He has a lot of defensive responsibility as well as supporting attacking movements when we do go forward with the ball,” Kaiser said. “His work rate and stamina are great attributes for players in that role. It is a lot of work to play in that spot, but he did a great job of learning how to play a new style/ formation and he has really stepped up and embraced the challenge.

The two have grown as a duo at an increasingly quick pace against better competition at practice.

They’ve also continued being the best of buds off the pitch as roommates.

“Both Gavin and Ben are very important pieces in our second team. They both started and played a lot of minutes in the (six) games we had on our schedule,” Kaiser said. “They both have made big strides since arriving in August. Both have worked really hard on applying the instructions we have given them, it’s evident when watching their play. They make better decisions on the ball, their technical ability has gotten better, and their speed of play is improving with every session.”

Both will play indoor soccer this winter. The two will play Futsal (indoor on a hard court), and will compete in tournaments with the Knights.