Playing three matches in under 24 hours in less than perfect conditions didn’t seem to bother the Dowagiac soccer team this past weekend.

The Chieftains were 3-0 in those three matches and outscored their opponents 9-0.
On Friday night, Dowagiac blanked visiting Brandywine 4-0, while on Saturday at the Chieftain Invitational, the team blanked River Valley 4-0 and Niles 1-0 to claim the championship.

Niles edged River Valley 1-0 in the second round match, scoring in the final minute of play.

Niles…0
Dowagiac…1
Lauren Krueger picked up the only goal of the match in the 59th minute of play to lift Dowagiac to the championship of its own tournament.

Dowagiac outshot Niles 13-2 in the contest.

Alyssa Fritz recorded the shutout.

“We played good soccer despite poor weather conditions,” Dowagiac coach Mike Williams said. “The team moved as one and gave support all over the field. This has been a great start to our season, going 4-0. We are now getting into the conference schedule and will face some tougher competition.”

River Valley…0
Dowagiac…4
The Chieftains scored two goals in each half against the Mustangs to earn the victory.
Correisha Rodgers had both goals in the opening 30 minutes of play, scoring in the first and 12th minutes.

In the second half, Krueger opened the scoring in the 50th minute and Kelsie Primley capped the scoring with a goal in the 55th minute.

The Chieftains held a 12-1 advantage in shots on goal.

Fritz picked up the shutout.

Brandywine…0
Dowagiac…4
Rodgers scored three of the four Dowagiac goals on Friday night against the Bobcats.
Rodgers netted goals in the seventh, 30th and 52nd minutes, while the fourth Chieftain goal was actually an own goal by Brandywine.

The Chieftains held a 15-1 advantage in shot on goal in the contest.

Fritz earned the shutout.

“We did a good job of controlling the ball,” Williams said. “We fed well to the mids and created a lot of opportunities for our forwards. Defense did an excellent job distributing and supporting from the back. All this in pouring rain and wind.”

The Bobcats played without two starters, one which was sick and the other who was on a school-related trip according to coach Evan Winkler.

“You need all our players when you play a tough team like Dowagiac,” he said. “Dowagiac played a good game tonight and we were lucky it wasn’t worse. I wasn’t happy with the way we played the first 20 minutes. I thought we stood around a lot and had a hard time marking up. We also didn’t win any 50-50 balls as Dowagiac played more aggressive and played with more intensity.

“After that I thought we played the best we could. We started to go to the ball more often and gave us a few more chances to score. We didn’t have many, but if we could of capitalized on those it might have been a different outcome, especially if we don’t score on ourselves and they don’t miss the foul that should have been called on the second goal.”

Chieftain Invitational
First round
River Valley…0
Dowagiac…4
Halftime score
Dowagiac 2, River Valley 0

First half
D – Correisha Rodgers first minute (Breanna Williams assist)
D – Rodgers 12th minute

Second half
D – Lauren Krueger 50th minute (Alejandro Cano assist)
D – Kelsie Primley 55th minute

Shots on goal
River Valley 1, Dowagiac 12

Second round
Niles…1
River Valley…0
Halftime score 0-0

Second half
N – 59th minute

Final round
Niles…0
Dowagiac…1
Halftime score
Niles 0, Dowagiac 0

Second half
D – Lauren Krueger 59th minute (Correisha Rodgers assist)

Shots on goal
Niles 2, Dowagiac 13

Friday night
Brandywine…0
Dowagiac…4
Halftime score
Dowagiac 2, Brandywine 0

First half
D – Correisha Rodgers 7th minute (Christina Preston assist)
D – Rodgers 30th minute

Second half
D – Brandywine own goal
D – Rodgers 52nd minute

Shots on goal
Brandywine 1, Dowagiac 15

Varsity record
Dowagiac 4-0