By By DON EDEN / Niles Daily Star
THREE OAKS – Brandywine coach Evan Winkler was anxious all day looking forward to the Saturday evening matchup with Lakeland Conference rival River Valley for the championship of the District 4 girls soccer tournament.
The Bobcats clawed their way to the crown by kicking the host Mustangs 2-0 in front of a football sized crowd.
"This is huge for this program to win the district for the first time ever," a drenched Winkler exclaimed after taking the victory water bath.
Brandywine (10-7-3) controlled the first half of play as the first eight shots failed to get by junior Mustang goalie Ashley Kuntz.
Sophomore Michaela Greer took advantage of her first shot as she dribbled from midfield down the right side of the field and booted a perfect 20-yard shot over Kuntz with just over four minutes to play before intermission.
"This team learned from their mistakes and never got down," said Winkler. "Every possession was worthwhile with team oriented passes and you need that against better teams."
Shots were in favor of the Bobcats by a 9-4 margin with both Kuntz and senior Brandywine goalie Katie Smallwood making three saves.
"We needed to score in the first half but I am pleased with our progress with such a young team," stated River Valley coach Shawn Beach. "Brandywine has an aggressive style of defense who do a good job with the core of the players together from last year."
Scoring the second goal for the Bobcats was freshman Samantha Low who took a pass from sophomore Kaley Jones down the middle and connected with a 10-yard left foot boot by Kuntz.
River Valley's best chance to knock the zero off the scoreboard came less than two minutes later when an apparent hand ball in front of Smallwood was not called and a shot hit the goalie instead of the net.
"We had a chance to score as the hand ball prevented that shot from scoring and didn't get a penalty kick," dejectedly noted Beach who received a yellow card for his argument. "This team just could not put passes together, but it was good experience for many of the players since it is a surprise to get this far (district final) and this will help us going into our last year in the Lakeland."
Brandywine also had chances to score as shots hit the top bar, landed on top of the net and stopped by Kuntz.
"This group gets along very well, awesome to be around, have great attitudes and very proud of them," wooed Winkler. "The opportunity to win was this year as next year will be a bigger challenge as we move up a district."
The Bobcats will now travel to Kalamazoo Christian to face Dansville on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
First Half
Michaela Greer (BR) 36th minute
Shots Brandywine 9, River Valley 4
Saves Katie Smallwood (BR) 3, Ashley Kuntz (RV) 3
Corner kicks Brandywine 3, River Valley 2
Second Half
Samantha Low (BR) Kaley Jones assist 51st minute
Shots Brandywine 10 (19), River Valley 5 (9)
Saves Smallwood 4 (7), Kuntz 6 (9)
Corner kicks Brandywine 0 (3), River Valley 1 (3)