Niles’ Devin Nyers (9) prepares to take a shot against Buchanan goalkeeper Steve VanAlstine Monday night. Looking on are the Bucks’ Alex Darmos (12) and the Vikings’ Cicone Palmore. (Daily Star photo/TOM NYHUIS)

By TOM NYHUIS

Niles Daily Star

In a season that has seen the Niles varsity soccer team get off to a quick start, the Vikings quickest start of the season came Tuesday afternoon as their first goal hit the back of the net just :26 into the non-league contest.

“We’ve done this three out of seven games so far that we have scored within the first two minutes,” Vikings’ coach Jerry Holtgren said. “We are pretty good at that coming out and it definitely takes the wind out of the opponent.”

The Vikings went on to pick up the 4-0 win over the Bucks who were limited to just two shots on goal as Niles controlled the tempo and ball through most of the game. “We did a little bit better today than what we have been doing earlier this season,” Holtgren stated on his team’s play Tuesday afternoon. “We created great opportunities, we possessed the ball and we had better opportunities. We definitely have to learn to finish. We hit the post, had offsides and all kinds of wonderful ways not to score.”

Cicone Palmore took the opening kick off through the Bucks defense untouched and place the ball in the back of the net beating Buchanan goalkeeper Steve VanAlstine.

Niles continued to work its offensive ball handling skills in the first half and notched its second goal of the afternoon off the foot of Chase Hullinger in the 28th minute.

“We created more creative attacks and we switched the ball well from side to side and I was happy that we did that,” Holtgren said.

Buchanan’s defensive struggles continued in the second half as Niles scored in the 64th minute with Palmore picking up his second goal of the day.

Just over five minutes later it was Devin Nyers putting the Vikings up 4-0 with just over 10 minutes to play.

“We tried something new today,” Buchanan coach Brian Pruett said of his team’s effort. “We tried a new formation and I told the kids that it was going to take some work because Niles is a quick team, an experienced team and a fast team. I had some players show some real effort even though we were down 4-0. This test will help us as we enter into our league schedule.”

Niles finished the game with 16 shots on goal as they improve to 6-0-1, the team’s best start since 2006 when the Viking started the season 6-0.

It is the best undefeated start for Niles in the school’s 25 years of organized soccer. Niles will look to extend that record on Thursday as it begins league play taking on Mattawan.

Buchanan’s record drops to 2-4-1 and will face Cassopolis at home for a Lakeland Conference contest on Thursday.

Buchanan…0

Niles…4

Halftime score

Niles 2, Buchanan 0

First half

N –Cicone Palmore 1st minute

N – Chase Hullinger – 29th minute

Second half

N – Cicone Palmore – 65th minute

N – Devin Nyers – 70th minute

Shots on goal

Buchanan 2

Niles 16

Saves

Buchanan 2 (Steve VanAlstine)

Niles 2 (Derek Arguello)