By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
The Niles varsity soccer team won its third straight game Thursday afternoon, beating Sturgis 4-1 to finish ninth in the Big-16 Conference Tournament.
The Vikings went 3-1 in the tournament to improve to 6-11-1 on the year. Niles hosts Sturgis Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the first round of the Division 2 District Tournament. It will be the fourth meeting between the two schools this season.
Kyle Kidwell scored the only goal of the first half, off an assist from Brian Coulston, 12 minutes into the game to give Niles a 1-0 halftime lead.
Blaise Nsengiyumva then lifted the Vikings' lead to 2-0 with his goal early in the second half.
Sturgis cut the lead to 2-1 before Kidwell scored again, off an assist from Evan McCullough, to bring the lead to 3-1. Kidwell wrapped up the scoring, tallying his second hat trick of the week, on an unassisted goal.
Niles outshot Sturgis 12-10 and Cory Coquillard had nine saves in goal for the Vikings.
The Niles junior varsity soccer team suffered a 3-2 loss. Cody Riggenbach scored both goals for Niles, which outshot Sturgis 10-6. Dan Ott had four saves in goal for the Vikings while Travis Wirick and Bryce Flannery each had an assist.
Bobcats beat Wildcats
Brandywine beat Marcellus 2-1 in a non-conference varsity soccer match Thursday afternoon.
D.J. Elrod and Andy Low each scored for the Bobcats in the first half. Low assisted on Elrod's goal and Matt Wieger assisted on Low's goal.
Brandywine outshot the Wildcats 24-11 and Garrett Semrinec had seven saves in goal for the Bobcats.
Brandywine travels to Coloma Monday night for the first round of the Division 3 District Tournament. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m.