By TOM NYHUIS
Vigilant/Argus

EDWARDSBURG – After a scoreless first half, the host Edwardsburg Eddies exploded for four goals en route to a 4-0 Lakeland Conference victory over Buchanan.

Solid defense and several stellar saves by Buchanan goalie Steven VanAlstine kept the Bucks in the match the entire first half.

Deadlock at zero at the half ended with a well conditioned Edwardsburg, keeping the pressure on in the second half, finally broke loose in the final 40 minutes.

The Eddies fired 20 shots on goal in the first 40 minutes with VanAlstine coming up big and making the stop each time to keep the Bucks in the match.

“Give Buchanan credit their defense and keeper came up with some big, big saves and kept them in the game,” Eddie coach Ryan Rosenkranz said of the Bucks first half performance. “I liked what my kids were doing they were putting shots on goal and dangerous opportunities and I told them at the half to keep shooting, keep pulling the trigger. A big goalie like that you have to keep your shots low, switch the view to try to keep him off guard. He does a good job of positioning himself and putting himself in good position to make saves. He is probably one of the better goalies we have seen all year long.”

At the other end of the field Buchanan could only manage four shots on goal three of those coming in the opening minutes of the contest. “We played a good first half,” Buchanan coach Brian Pruett stated after the loss. “Edwardsburg was the better team and they had a lot of good chances in the first half, but our defense stayed strong, they played hard and never gave up and Steven had a lot of great saves. After we made the defensive stops we couldn’t transition into positive stuff on the offensive end.”

Edwardsburg finally hit the back of the net nine minutes into the second half off the foot of Zak Karamalegos after a scramble for the ball off a corner kick by the Eddies.

Edwardsburg continued to keep the pressure on the Bucks defense taking another 13 shots.
Evan VanBelle scored at the 58th minute for a 2-0 lead. Luke Rohrman added the Eddies’ third goal in 66th minute and Andy Boyles capped of the scoring in the 75th minute.

“In the second half I could tell we were getting worn down and I could see it in their eyes and their legs. We played strong the first 10 minutes and then after they got that first goal I could see their sails kind of sink. They played hard the rest of the game but being worn down we gave them opportunities to score. Our defense didn’t mark up, didn’t follow our guys and that led to all their scoring opportunities,” Pruett added.

“Our bench is really deep this year and I’m able to sub guys in and out and not skip a beat in all various positions and that helps us out. Also having our starters in condition it definitely helps out in playing a full 80 minutes and being able to try to wear teams out,” Rosenkranz said.

Buchanan again was limited to just four shots on goal in the second half.

Buchanan…0
Edwardsburg…4
Halftime score
Buchanan 0, Edwardsburg 0

Second half
E – Zak Karamalegos 49th minute
E – Evan VanBelle 58th minute
E – Luke Rohrman 66th minute (Andy Boyles assist)
E – Andy Boyles 75th minute (Zac Huff assist)

Shots on goal
Buchanan 8
Edwardsburg 33

Saves
Buchanan 24
Edwardsburg 8

Varsity records
Buchanan 1-1 (LAC) 3-4-0
Edwardsburg 2-0 (LAC) 4-2-0