By By SCOTT NOVAK / Dowagiac Daily News
The Dowagiac junior varsity and varsity soccer teams will travel to St. Joseph today for the opening round of the Big-16 Conference soccer tournament.
Dowagiac's varsity, the 12th seed, will face the No. 5 seeded Bears at 6:45 p.m.
The winner will take on either Battle Creek Lakeview or Coldwater, the No. 4 and No. 13 seeds respectively on Thursday in the second round of the tournament.
In the other half of the bracket, No. 1 seeded Portage Central will meet No. 16 Benton Harbor today.
The winner advances to face either No. 8 seeded Sturgis or No. 9 seeded Kalamazoo Loy Norrix.
Mattawan, the second seed, is scheduled to face No. 15 seeded Battle Creek Central today.
Niles, seeded No. 10, will face No. 7 seeded Kalamazoo Central today. The winners of the Mattawan-Battle Creek and Niles-Kalamazoo Central matches will met in the second round on Thursday.
Lakeshore, the sixth seed, will face No. 10 seeded Marshall today, while No. 3 seed Portage Northern takes on No. 14 seeded Battle Creek Harper Creek.
The winners of those matches will also meet in the second round on Thursday.
The higher seeded team will host each round of the tournament, which is scheduled to conclude on Oct. 16.
Dowagiac's JV squad will play at 5 p.m. today.