The Niles soccer team honored its seniors at halftime of a match that nearly was finished after the first 40 minutes of play.

The Vikings scored seven first half goal in defeating visiting Berrien Springs Monday.

The match went 16 minutes into the second half before Niles ended the contest with its eighth and final goal.

Seniors Kaytlyn Miller and Anne Tyler accounted for three of the eight Niles goal. Miller had a pair of goals in the opening 14 minutes, while Tyler’s tally ended the match in the 56th minute.

The other five goals were scored by either freshmen or sophomores.

Sophomore Abigail Gaines got the Vikings on the scoreboard in the fifth minute before Miller scored back-to-back goals to extend the lead to 3-0 just 13 minutes into the match.

Sophomore Alexis Arnold made it 4-0 in the 14th minute and then freshmen Haley Akey scored back-to-back goals to end the first half scoring.

“We haven’t been scoring a lot of goals this season, so it was good to see the girls have some fun with that and put the ball in the back of the net,” Niles coach Jo Schau said. “We worked on some things. We took advantage of the fact that we could have a little bit more time with the ball and move the ball around. We were able to find all of our open options and try to find the best one before we shot the ball.”

Niles outshot Berrien Springs 10-1 with senior Viking goalkeeper Sarah Smith make the lone save.

Niles will now host the VanDenBerg Invitational Saturday.

The Vikings will entertain cross-town rival Brandywine in the opening game at 9 a.m.

Berrien Springs…0

Niles…8

Halftime score

Niles 7, Berrien Springs 0

First half

N – Abigail Gaines 5th minute

N – Kaytlyn Miller 8th minute

N – Miller 13th minute

N – Alexis Arnold 14th minute

N – Haley Akey 22nd minute

N – Akey 40th minute

 

Second half

N – Anne Tyler 56th minute

Shots on goal

Berrien Springs 1

Niles 10

Saves

Berrien Springs 2

Niles 1 (Sarah Smith)

Corner kicks

Berrien Springs 1

Niles 6

Record

Niles 4-10-1