The Dowagiac soccer team played one of its best offensive matches of the season Monday night.

Unfortunately, the Chieftains also played one of their worst defensive matches in a 10-5 loss to visiting Otsego in a Wolverine Conference crossover.

The Bulldogs got off to a quick start and maintained their momentum through the opening 40 minutes of the match.

Micah Beard had a hat trick in the opening half as Otsego led by three goals, 4-1, with less than 20 minutes to play.

Dowagiac got a pair of first half goals from Ricardo Esperaza off assists from Ricky Lucio and Jorge Ruiz to cut the Bulldogs’ advantage to 4-3.

Beard’s third goal made it 5-3 before Dowagiac and Otsego traded goals to end the first half.

Solis scored the first and last goal of the opening 40 minutes for the Chieftains.

Beard picked up his fourth goal to start the second half. Also scoring for the Bulldogs were Shawaryn, Noah Lambrix and Cameron Bell.

Esperaza completed the hat trick as he scored the lone goal in the final 40 minutes for the Chieftains.

Dowagiac was outshot by Otsego 20-14. Nate Stewart was credited with 11 saves.

“What happened was we weren’t staying on our marks defensively,” Dowagiac coach Mike Williams said. “We knew what to do and who to mark, we just didn’t do it. On a positive note, we scored a lot of goals. We moved the ball well, we attacked well and we had a decent amount of shots.”

 

Otsego…10

Dowagiac…5

Halftime score

Otsego 5, Dowagiac 4

 

First half

O – Micah Beard

D – Tony Solis (Leo Brito assist)

O – Cody Holbert

O – Beard

O – Tim Schawaryn

D – Ricardo Esperaza (Ricky Lucio assist)

D – Esperaza (Jorge Ruiz assist)

O – Beard

D – Solis

O – Matt Sutterfield

 

Second half

O – Beard

O – Shawaryn

O – Noah Lambrix

D – Esperaza (Ruiz assist)

O – Cameron Bell

 

Shots on goal

Otsego 20

Dowagiac 14

 

Saves

Otsego 5

Dowagiac 11 (Nate Stewart)