Ava McKeel kicks in the final goal against Benton Harbor as Niles blanked the Tigers 8-0. (Daily Star Photo/AMELIO RODRIGUEZ)

By STEVE MORRISON

Niles Daily Star

The Niles Vikings girls’ soccer team scored early and often in an 8-0 rout of the visiting Benton Harbor Tigers Wednesday at Niles High School.

Superior defense and an unrelenting attack propelled the Vikes to victory.

Benton Harbor was only able to penetrate past mid-field a handful of times in the first half.

Keeper Catherine Butler could have taken a snooze during her time in goal, as she never was challenged by a shot on goal in the contest. It was Benton Harbor’s first game of the season, and, to be fair, it was the first varsity soccer contest for over half of the players on its roster.

Anne Tyler and Ava McKeel scored two goals each for Niles. McKeel’s second goal, at 42:24, less than three minutes into the second half, was a 30-yard launch that sailed uninhibited into the net to end the game, by virtue of the “mercy rule”.

Senior Ashley Allison, juniors Alex McIntee and Lacey Stanage and sophomore Kamber Hadley rounded out the scoring with one goal apiece for the Vikings.

Niles coach, Jo Schau was cautiously optimistic about her team’s effort.

Niles has defeated Buchanan, Edwardsburg, Benton Harbor and River Valley, twice, while accumulating a 5-3 season record to this point.

She has a young squad with only six seniors, three juniors and eight sophomores. Injuries at the outbreak have played a factor in the early going.

“Team play, overall, Ashley Allison, Alex McIntee, Shannon McTigue … those are three primary players for us,” Schau assessed. “Katy Miller,too.

“We are dealing with a broken collar bone, a broken hand and a concussion. This has just happened, so we haven’t had a real consistent lineup. This has just happened over a two-week span, so every game we have had different people starting because of injuries,” Schau revealed.

“We’re up to it; we’ve just got to get consistent. We’re young and we’re battling injuries at this point. I just hope and pray in a month’s time, when districts roll around that we can be healthy. There are a lot of new positions and new faces trying to all work the ball through the field,” Schau concluded.