By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
Two early goals propelled the Dowagiac varsity soccer team to a 2-1 victory over visiting Niles Thursday night in a Big 16 Conference West Division match.
The Chieftains (6-3, 2-1) rebounded from an 8-0 loss to St. Joseph on Tuesday in a match that was extremely physical and emotional.
Three yellow cards were handed out between the two teams, in a match, that could have seen a few more.
Niles soccer coach Jerry Holtgren agreed.
Dowagiac junior defender Pat Brosnan scored the first goal of the evening just six minutes into the match off a corner kick.
The Chieftains followed that goal with another 15 minutes later, as Brian Edgerly scored in the 21st minute to make it a 2-0 contest.
Dowagiac appeared to be in control of the match until Niles cut the lead to 2-1 on a goal in the 24th minute by Blaise Nsengumvya.
In the first half we played very poorly with no motivation," Holtgren said of his Niles squad. We had two starters out tonight which made it difficult for us to find a chemistry at the beginning."
Williams felt that it was important for his squad to get off to a quick start against the Vikings.
Holtgren felt his squad control the match throughout the second half, but was unable to take advantage of the situation as Dowagiac's defense played well and its goalkeeper Aaron Wilson stepped up.
Niles did have a tying goal disallowed midway through the second half.
Williams felt that defensively the Chieftains really picked it up late in the match and held Niles at bay.
Neither team held an advantage in the shot deparment as it was 12-12.