Cold weather and a few snow flurries couldn’t keep visiting Bridgman from a 2-1 Lakeland Conference soccer victory over Brandywine Tuesday afternoon.

Bridgman scored the game winner with just 53 seconds remaining in the match as Cassie Amicarelli managed to sneak one past the Bobcat defense and into the net.

“That was tough. We played so hard,” Brandywine coach Evan Winkler said about his team losing in the last minute. “The first two games were really rough for us, but to come back and have the lead. I thought we were playing really good.”

Brandywine took the lead 1-0 at the 27:08 mark of the first half when Bridgman was called for a penalty in their own box and Brandywine’s Brooke Smith capitalized on the free kick.

The ’Cats maintained that lead for better than 30 minutes, but after missing on a barrage of close attempts the Bees’ MacKenzie Rathgeb lofted one from about 25 yards away that floated over goalie Allie Wilson’s head and into the goal to tie the score 1-1.

Both teams had their opportunities to score but could not capitalize; in fact, the Bobcats controlled the ball in the Bridgman end of the field for six or seven minutes and could not connect on goal.

Bridgman managed to get the ball out of its zone a few times and the last time they managed to get a couple of players behind the defense and after Wilson managed to clear the ball out of the zone, the Bees caught her out of position and scored the game winner.

“Sometimes the best team doesn’t win,” said Winkler. “I thought we played better than them for the majority of the game, but it was a pretty even game throughout. They really played hard and they stayed with it.”

Brandywine falls to 0-3 on the season and will play against Michigan Lutheran on Thursday.

Bridgman…2

Brandywine…1

Halftime score

Brandywine 1, Bridgman 0

First half

BW – Brooke Smith (penalty shot)

Second half

BR – MacKenzie Rathgeb

BR – Cassie Amicarelli

Shots on goal

Bridgman 9

Brandywine 6

Saves

Bridgman 6 (Megan Adams)

Brandywine 7 (Allie Wilson)

Varsity records

Bridgman 1-3, 1-0 Lakeland

Brandywine 0-3, 0-1 Lakeland