By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Playing back-to-back nights and for the third time this week may have caught up with the Dowagiac varsity soccer team Thursday night.
The Chieftains, coming off a 10-0 win over Benton Harbor the previous night, struggled to slip past Brandywine in a non-conference match, 4-3.
Brandywine (0-2) jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Kalie Newman found the back of the net in the 17th minute.
Dowagiac tied the score at 1-1 when Jill Billingham scored in the 31st minute.
The Lady Bobcats grabbed a 2-1 halftime advantage when Newman scored again, this time in the 36th minute.
Dowagiac regrouped at halftime and came out on fire.
The Chieftains (2-1), who opened their season Monday night against Allegan, scored three unanswered goals in the second half to pull out the victory.
Billingham tallied her second goal of the night in the 48th minute to square the match at 2-2.
Dowagiac took the lead for good in the 51st minute as Amanda Fox scored with an assist by Hillary Bisnett.
The Chieftains concluded their scoring in the 64th minute as Sophie Acevedo scored to make it 4-2.
Brandywine cut the lead to 4-3 on a goal from Erin Sinkoff with an assist from Bethany Daniel in the 77th minute.
The Lady Bobcats could not, however, come up with the equalizer.
Dowagiac outshot Brandywine 22-8. Danielle Stanton had nine saves for the Chieftains, while Daniel had 18 saves for the Lady Bobcats.
Brandywine returns to action tonight against Granger Christian. The match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
Dowagiac heads back into action on Wednesday when it returns to Big 16 Conference West Division play at St. Joseph.