Despite the fact that it outshot its opponent 8-3 and controlled the ball for the majority of play, the Dowagiac girls soccer team fell to 1-6 on the season with a hard fought 3-1 loss at home against Wolverine Conference West Division rival Coloma Wednesday evening.

The Comets (2-5) opened up the scoring midway through the first half on when Emma Tavoiacci corralled a corner kick and put it into the back of the net. Tavoiacci’s goal would be the lone goal of the half.

The Chieftains made a series of nice runs in the offensive zone in the second half with the culmination of their efforts coming on a Christina Preston goal in the 61st minute.

Unfortunately for the Chieftains, Coloma’s Paige Derrick wasted almost no time at all before putting the Comets ahead for good, literally.

Just 40 seconds after knotting the game at 1-1, Dowagiac received an unlucky bounce when the ball deflected off of two unsuspecting Chieftain defenders and onto the waiting foot of Derrick, who promptly put the ball between the posts.

Derrick wasn’t done there, in the 71st minute she used a nifty side-step move to get behind the Chieftains’ defense and another equally as crafty move to get past their goalkeeper’s challenge and place the game’s final goal into an uncontested net.

Dowagiac coach Craig Black said he was “disappointed” in his team’s inability to finish, but also proud of how his young and undermanned team has continued to fight this season.

“We had some opportunities we just couldn’t convert and that hurts, but I thought we played them tough,” he said. “We have some injuries and we’re a young team, I said our goal for the season was to get better every game and I think the girls have done just that, hopefully we’ll have everything clicking for us as we come up on districts.”

The Chieftains will continue in their quest to evolve their game Friday when they return to the pitch to take on Hartford at home at 5 p.m.

 

Coloma… 3

Dowagiac… 1

Halftime score

Coloma 1, Dowagiac 0

 

First half

C – Emma Tavoiacci 20th minute

 

Second half

D – Christina Preston 61st minute

C – Paige Derrick 61st minute

C – Derrick 71st minute

 

Shots on goal

Dowagiac 8

Coloma 3