The Niles Star

Niles kickers blanked by Eddies

By STEVE MORRISON
Niles Daily Star

As they, “It was a beautiful day for a ballgame,” but Saturday afternoon turned out on the dark side for the Niles Vikings men’s soccer team.

The visiting Edwardsburg Eddies shut out the Vikings 4-0 on the strong leg of forward Andy Boyles and the dependable hands of keeper Ryan Housing at Niles High School.
With seven minutes and nine seconds gone in the first half, Boyles scored the first of his three goals of the game. Boyles received 1-2 pass and sliced it home past the Viking defenders from eight yards out.

Although Niles’ defense was dependable and reliable, Edwardsburg was consistently on the offensive attack. Pierce Knoll and Jacob Stanage were seemingly always there on defense to wrestle the ball away from the Eddies front line.

On offense, the lion’s share of the load was shouldered by Vikings mid-fielder Jonathan Eddy. He made every attempt to distribute the ball, passing to his teammates Kassim Dafa and Derrick Nzabakira, but Niles’ forwards just couldn’t get it into the net.

Meanwhile, the Eddies continued to hammer shot at Niles goal keeper Derek Arguello. At 14:15 Boyles took a pass and crossed in front of the net, firing it past Arguello for a 2-0 Edwardsburg lead. The score stayed the same until the half.

“Derek Arguello had good stops (9) for us,” stated Coach Jerry Holtgren after the game. “The defensive breakdowns were not his fault.”

Half way through the second period, at 58:14) Boyles scored again for Edwardsburg. Crossing through the middle an unmarked by the Niles backfield, he took a pass from Connor Smith on the weak side, and rammed it past a helpless Arguello for a hat trick.
After Niles failed to clear the ball on their end, Chris Hotrum added Edwardsburg’s fourth and final tally. He slipped past the defenders and punched home a 10-yard shot at 72:42.

Edwardsburg Coach Ryan Rosencrantz was well pleased with the results of his charges. “It was a good team win,” he stressed. “The defense played well; we had had overall ball control.Andy (Boyles) had a great game today.”

“We just weren’t on our game today and had some difficulty spreading the field and working the ball,” Holtgren commented about the Vikings. Edwardsburg applied pressure the whole game and played well. “However, some of their success can be attributed to our varios breakdowns. Part of being a young soccer team means going through growing pains. The  young players, specifically nine sophomore are being asked to develop more quickly than what is usually expected.

I anticipate the team to remain optimistic and continue working towards improving. I think our future is bright if we can learn from these setbacks and can play as a team and in our system,” Hotgren summarized.

Holtgren’s apparent patient and encouraging demeanor is becoming effective in Niles’ progress.

Edwardsburg…4
Niles…0
Halftime score
Edwardsburg2, Niles 0

Shots on Goal
Edwardsburg 14, Niles 7
Saves
Edwardsburg, (Ryan Housing) 7
Niles, (Derek Arguello) 9

Edwardsburg Goals
Andy Boyles, 7:09
Andy Boyles, 14:15
Andy Boyles, assist Connor Smith, 58:14
Chris Hotrum, 72:42

Varsity records
Edwardsburg, 8-2-0
Niles, 3-7-2

Saugutuck…0
Brandywine…7
After having seen their losing streak extend to 0-9 the Brandywine Bobcats soccer team exploded for seven goals en route to shutting out the Saugatuck Indians Saturday at the new Brandywine soccer complex.

It was the first victory of the season for the ‘Cats who had seen several victories barely slip through their hands to opponents.

Saturday featured a round robin invitational tournament, including teams from Brandywine, Saugatuck, and Parchment .

In the first match of the day, Parchment defeated Brandywine 5-0, despite Brandywine’s keeper, Jason Andrews’ 10 saves.

Then Parchment handed Saugatuck a 9-1 loss in the second contest.

To begin the first two minutes of the third and final game of the day, Saugatuck appeared to have the upper hand in ball control over the ‘Cats. However, Justin Palmer, Ryan Kubiak, Alex Humphrey, and Jacob Wieger rebuffed the Indians exploits, booting the ball far away from their own end of the field.

It took just over eight minutes (8:08) for the Bobcats to strike pay dirt; Matt Liebetrau scored for Brandywine on a ball centered by Zach Durbin from a well-placed throw in by Elliot Richards.

Less than a minute and a half later (9:37), Liebetrau struck again. Stealing the ball near midfield, and slashing  past the Saugatuck backfield, he deposited a left to right shot past Indians keeper Thomas Finn for a 2-0 Bobcat bulge.

Brandywine barely missed several other scoring opportunities in the rest of the half. Liebetrau hit the crossbar following up a corner kick by Elliot Richards. Wieger’s shot was slightly deflected by Finn to avoid a goal. Just later, Adam Srmek rifled one over the top of the net. Nevertheless, Brandywine was on the attack with a 2-0 lead at intermission. Brandywine’s keeper, Andrews, was only required to make one save in the first 30 minutes.

It didn’t take much time for Brandywine to connect in the second half. Richards scored 1:14 into the second period, assisted by Liebetrau and Zach Gerber.

With Palmer manning the middle and Ryan Kubiak and Alex Humphrey blocking the sidelines, Saugatuck just couldn’t penetrate on offense. Saugatuck could only offer two shots on goal for the second half (three for the game) and Elliot Richards, who had replaced Adam Schoenleber, in goal, easily made the saves.

The Bobcats played with a vengeance the rest of the way. Wieger scored38 seconds after Richards’ tally. After a tripping penalty by Saugatuck, at 41:06, Palmer scorched a penalty kick past a frozen Finn.

Zach Gerber’s corner kick slipped past Finn into the net at 42:26, for the sixth  Bobcat goal, and Andrews, playing at the offensive end, smacked a head-butt past Finn deflected from a lofted shot from Nicholas Srmek.

Brandywine coach Jim McNamara appeared relieved for his squad to have finally broken their jinx with a victory.

“They’ve been working hard,” McNamara acknowledged of his team’s commitment. “We played really unselfishly; we played pretty good in the first game (against Parchment). We had some opportunities. We just had some breakdowns.

Once the ball goes in the net, the confidence builds. We moved the ball fantastically. A lot of times in a game like that we get selfish and start hunting goals. We moved the ball and did things right. They did well; I was really happy with them,” he added.

Halftime score
Brandywine 2, Saugatuck 0

Shots on goal
Brandywine 16, Saugatuck 3

Saves
Saugatuck (Thomas Finn) 9; Brandywine ( Jason Andrews, 1; David Schoenleber,0: Elliot Richards,2) 3

Scoring
(B) Matt Liebetrau, assist Zach Durbin -8:08
(B) Matt Liebetrau -9:37
(B) Elliot Richards, assists Matt Liebetrau and Zach Gerber
(B) Jacob Wieger, assist A.J.Srmek
(B) Justin Palmer, penalty kick
(B) Zach Gerber
(B) Jason Andrews, assist Nicholas Srmek

Varsity records
Brandywine, 1-9-0
Saugatuck, 0-5-0