By TOM NYHUIS
Niles Daily Star

BUCHANAN – Once again it was a league meeting between Brandywine and Buchanan in girls’ varsity soccer action.

The outcome played out as it did two weeks ago – tie.

Just two weeks ago the two teams squared off against each other and battled to a scoreless tie. Monday’s second Lakeland Conference meeting finished knotted at two goals apiece.

With a steady rain falling through out the game, Buchanan took the lead off the foot of senior Amanda Wynn knocking the ball past Brandywine goalkeeper Carlie Newman with an assist from Racheal Bahr for the 1-0 advantage at the 26:56 mark of the first half.

“Once again this was a game of momentum swings,” Buchanan coach Brian Pruett said. “These girls worked their butts off out here tonight. It’s to bad we couldn’t have gotten the win. We had our chances. During the final 15 minutes we got some nice attempts but just couldn’t get them in.”

Brandywine tied the match with just under three minutes left in the opening half as Nicole Newman hit the first of her two goals of the afternoon.

“I thought we didn’t play one of our better games tonight,” Brandywine coach Evan Winkler said following the disappointing outcome. “We easily could have been down after the first half we just didn’t play well through periods of the game. Brian (Pruett) has done a nice job at getting his team ready. We are just really disappointed right now because this knocked us out of the race for the (Lakeland) title.”

The game remained deadlock through the first 22 minutes of the second half before Buchanan’s Morgan French broke free from her defender down the right side and placed a perfect pass to the top of the box where Wynn was ready to head the ball past the Bobcat keeper and put the Lady Bucks up 2-1.

It took nearly 10 minutes before Brandywine would respond with its second tying goal of the afternoon as Nicole Newman was able to beat her defender and send the ball past the Bucks goalkeeper Shelby Welbaum.

In the final six minutes Buchanan had several opportunities to break the dead lock but a save by Newman in the goal off a Sarah Long kick, another attempt by Wynn went wide and French’s kick from the right side just missed sneaking in the upper right corner as the ball sailed over the top of the goal in the final minute of the contest.

“After working through some injuries early in the season we are heading in the right direction going into district action,” Pruett stated. “We have played some pretty tough teams through the season. We may have not picked up the win but it has made us a better team as the season progressed.”

Each team had plenty of chances at scoring with the Bobcats taking 24 shots on goal to the Buck’ 21. Welbaum finished the game with 15 saves while Carlie Newman stopped 13.

The Bobcats, 9-5-3, 5-1-2 will now need help if they want a piece of the Lakeland title.
“We need someone to either beat or tie Edwardsburg in order to get back at getting a share of the conference title. As a team we are down. We needed this win tonight,” Winkler said

An early meeting between the two teams at the VanDenberg Tournament the Bucks held on for a 1-0 victory.

Brandywine…2
Buchanan…2
Halftime score
Brandywine 1, Buchanan 1

First half
BU – Amanda Wynn (Racheal Bahr assist)
BW – Nicole Newman

Second half
BU – Wynn (Morgan French assist)
BW – Nicole Newman

Shots on goal
Buchanan 21
Brandywine 24

Saves
Buchanan 15 (Shelby Welbaum)
Brandywine 13 (Carlie Newman)
Varsity records: Brandywine 9-5-3, 5-12 Lakeland; Buchanan 6-7-4, 4-1-3 Lakeland

Cassopolis at Edwardsburg
EDWARDSBURG – The Edwardsburg soccer team edged cross-county rival Cassopolis 2-1 in a Lakeland Conference match Monday night.

All three goals were scored in the opening half.

Ashlyn Chambers put the Eddies on top first with a goal in the 28th minute.

Bjargey Olafsson tied the score for the Rangers with a goal eight minutes later.

Nicole Brady had the the winning goal for the Eddies in the 37th minute.

Cassopolis…1
Edwardsburg…2
Halftime score
Edwardsburg 2, Dowagiac 1

First half
E – Ashlyn Chambers  28th min
C – Bjargey Olaffson 36th min
E – Nicole Brady 37th min