By By ADAM FISHER / Niles Daily Star
ARDEN — In a defensive duel, the St. Joe Kickers won the inaugural Blossomland Soccer League Tournament Cup Saturday by beating Bridgman P&R FC with a late goal, 1-0.
The game was scoreless until the 82nd minute, when the Kickers' Matt Gilbert drilled a penalty kick past P&R's goalie.
P&R opened the game as the aggressor. The team spent a majority of the first half in its end of the field, attacking Kicker's goalie Adam Burkhardt with shots.
St. Joe, meanwhile, struggled early on offense. The Kickers didn't have a shot on goal until the second half.
As the second half started, the Kickers' defense caught up with P&R's attackers. The game was a stalemate until the winning penalty kick.
P&R had its opportunities to score in the second half, but St. Joe's goalie stopped a pair of headers late in the game.
The Cup was a season-ending tournament. The actual league champion, with a 9-1 record, is Berrien Manchester.
Manchester's Ismael Hernandez was awarded the league's Golden Boot Award as leading scorer. He scored 19 goals in ten games.
Manchester took third-place in the tournament with a 6-2 victory over El Real St. Joe. In the fifth-place game, the Dowagiac Chiefs beat the Cass Cougars 3-0. Tony Black scored two goals for the Chiefs, while Alejandro Hernandez had the other score for Dowagiac.
The St. Joe Mariners beat the Cass Vipers 6-2 to take seventh place in the Cup. Scoring for Cass were Kyle Mack and Ae Xayasone.
The Mariners received the Most Sporting Team Award. They recorded only two yellow cards and no red cards during the course of the season.