NEW MADISON – It was a special night for the Tri-Village soccer team as the Patriots celebrated their senior night, and it was made even more special as the team got its first win of the 2012 season.

Tri-Village beat Cross County Conference rival Tri-County North 3-0 Tuesday night in New Madison. It was the Patriots’ first win of the season after starting the year 0-9-2.

“It was a great senior night,” Tri-Village coach Chuck Willcox said. “We’ve had a rough season. We finally scored more than the opponent, first one of the season on senior night. I just wish we wouldn’t have waited until the end of the season to do it.”

Tri-Village had several shots on the goal early in the game and finally converted with a little more than three minutes left in the half as freshman Wesley Murphy scored his first varsity goal to put the Patriots up 1-0.

Almost 10 minutes into the second half, Tri-Village’s leading scorer, senior Andrew Willcox, extended the Patriots’ lead to 2-0 with his sixth goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Gabe Watern scored his first career goal after Tri-County North’s goalkeeper deflected Jacob Schepis’ shot to increase Tri-Village’s lead to 3-0.

It was great to see a couple new players get involved in the Patriots’ scoring, coach Willcox said.

“I’m sure that they’ll remember this night for a long time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tri-Village’s defense, led by senior goalkeeper Jaret Warren, held Tri-County North scoreless all night as the Patriots finished with the shutout victory.

“We’ve played a lot better soccer the last three weeks,” coach Willcox said about his team’s play. “It’s been great to watch the improvement they’ve had.”

During halftime of the game, Tri-Village honored its nine seniors – Kyle Fourman, Macy Fraylick, Erica Hammaker, Craig Harrison, Cody Oyler, Seth Thomas, Yasuhiro Koga, Jaret Warren and Andrew Willcox.

“The seniors have worked hard,” coach Willcox said. “Going to miss them. They’re a big group. They work well together. They get along well.”

Tri-Village will finish its regular season with a CCC game against Miami East at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in New Madison.

“Got a tough game against Miami East on Thursday night, our last conference game,” coach Willcox said. “Going to lose a key player in Jacob Schepis (who was injured on Watern’s goal). But I know the kids are going to battle as hard as they can.”