Due to the way the tiebreaker rules were at the Chieftains Invitational, host Dowagiac had to score nine or more goals in the first half against River Valley Saturday in order to win the championship for a third straight year.

That’s exactly what the Chieftains did in defeating the Mustangs 9-0 and claiming the trophy.

Due to a mix up following Dowagiac’s 1-1 tie with Niles in the opening match of the day, the tiebreaker was most goals scores or the fastest goal scored.

Originally, there should have been a shoot out in the first match to determine a winner.

Niles defeated River Valley 8-0 in the second match and scored the first goal in just 1:20.

When Dowagiac hit the field for the finale of the tournament, it knew what it had to do.

The Chieftains did not get the fastest goal scored, so it had to put up nine goals against a young and inexperienced River Valley squad.

Dowagiac had no trouble doing so as it had nine goals on the board with nearly seven minutes remaining in the opening half. The match did not continue in the second half due to the mercy rule.

Breanna Williams, who scored the lone goal in the match against the Vikings, had a pair of goals in the win over the Mustangs. Kelsie Primley added a goal and an assist.

McKayla Book had three goals, while Kaytlyn Miller had three assists for the Vikings in their victory over River Valley.

Miller scored the only goal for Niles in the opening match against Dowagiac.

“It could have gone either way,” Niles coach Jo Schau said about the opener against the Chieftains. “We kept attacking, but we are still struggling with finishing and putting the ball in a position to where we could have better scoring chances. So while it make have looked like we had more possession than they did, but still were not opening up the spaces we need to in order to be successful.

“We fixed a lot of things in the second half and played a much better second half even though that’s when the goals came for both teams. Because of the set up of this tournament, it was tough for me to have us score eight goals and be done because we have been on the other end of that. But it did help because we got to shuffle a lot of people in the first half.”

Chieftain Invitational

At Dowagiac

First match

Niles…1

Dowagiac…1

Halftime score

Niles 0, Dowagiac 0

Second half

D – Breanna Williams 37th minute (Amanda Hassle assist)

N – Kaytlyn Miller 52nd minute (Alexis Arnold assist)

Shots on goal

Niles 8

Dowagiac 9

Saves

Niles 7 (Sarah Smith)

Dowagiac 6 (Alyssa Fritz)

Second match

Niles…8

River Valley…0

Halftime score

Niles 7, River Valley 0

First half

N – Victoria Sowers 2nd minute

N – Margaret Hoff 13th minute

N – Abigail Gaines 15th minute (Hoff assist)

N – McKayla Book 19tht minute (Miller assist)

N – Book 21st (Miller assist)

N – Book 23rd minute (Miller assist)

N – Arnold 26th minute

Second half

N – Book 34th minute (Haley Akey assist)

Shots on goal

Niles 23

River Valley 0

Saves

Niles 0 (Smith)

River Valley 10

Varsity record

Niles 2-1-1