By By SCOTT NOVAK / Vigilant/Argus
On Tuesday night, Edwardsburg surprised visiting Allegan, 1-0 in the opening round of the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 District Soccer Tournament.
Ashley Turner scored off an assist from Rebecca Mondich in the 51st minute to advance the Lady Eddies to Thursday's semifinal at Paw Paw.
In other action Tuesday night, Jordan Markham's header in the opening minute of play at South Haven gave Dowagiac a 1-0 victory over the host Lady Rams
Markham scored on a cross from Danielle Stanton in the first minute of play to advance Dowagiac to the semifinals today against Three Rivers.
The Chieftains and Lady Wildcats were originally scheduled to play on Thursday, however, school officials agreed that because of Dowagiac's 55th annual All-Sports Banquet on Thursday night, the match would be moved to today at 5 p.m.
Dowagiac's solid defense and outstanding goalkeeping by Jackie Sayre made Markham's goal stand up.
The victory not only moved Dowagiac closer to a fourth straight appearance in the district finals, but it also gained a measure of revenge for the Chieftains against the Lady Rams.
South Haven blanked Dowagiac 2-0 back on May 12.
The closeness of the final score was reflected in the fact that Dowagiac held just a 14-13 advantage in shots on goal.
Williams said the difference on Tuesday night and the loss to South Haven on May 12 was a result of better defense.
Williams said that Dowagiac's lack of scoring is in part by design. He has two of his better goal scorers (Jami Lutz and Hillary Bisnett) playing defense.
Paw Paw defeated Comstock 3-2 in a shootout Tuesday night.
The Lady Redskins and Colts played 110 minutes to decide who would win the first round match.