Reorganization at halftime helped lead the Brandywine Bobcats to a 4-1 Lakeland Conference soccer victory Wednesday night against visiting Bridgman.

The Bobcats were a bit out of sync in the opening 40 minutes of play, although coach Evan Winkler was happy with the energy his squad was playing with.

Without the senior leadership of Sam Low in the first half, Brandywine struggled to put together much offense. Low was late arriving to the match due to participating in Blossomland Festival activities as the reigning Miss Niles-Brandywine.

Still, the Bobcats struck first as Mackenzie Shelton’s shot from 25-yards out eluded Bridgman goalkeeper Yesenia Pierce-Pedrosa and landed in the back of the net in the 13th minute.

The two teams battled back and fourth pretty much around the midfield area for the next 10 minutes with neither team mounting much of an offensive threat.

Then, Bridgman was able to break through the Brandywine defense and Brittany Doehrer lifted a shot over the top of Bobcats’ keeper Carlie Newman and high into the upper right-hand corner of the net to tie the score at 1-1 in the 24th minute.

The rest of the first half would be a battle to just control the ball and get some offensive flow.

Neither team was able to do so and the match remained all square heading into halftime.

It didn’t take long for the Bobcats to get the offense going in the final 40 minutes. After talking about keeping the ball on the ground and with the leadership of Low, things started to click for Brandywine.

“Definitely when Sam wasn’t in there it was a little helter-skelter,” Winkler said. “But like how we came out with a lot more intensity than we have been playing with. Especially than in our last game when we played Buchanan. I thought we won a lot more 50-50 balls. That kind of helped us keep it at their end more.

“I thought for the most part we played a pretty good half. We talked about at half time that the goalie was bobbling the ball and so we needed to crash the keeper more. We talked about getting and easy goal if you keep running at the goal and a ball can bounce off you and go in. That’s what happened that first goal (of the second half). It bounded off us and went in. The same thing with the second goal when we sent in a cross and it bounced off a chin and went in. People started making runs instead of standing around and being a spectator. We looked to be a little aggressive, but we also talked about keeping our passes on the ground and playing possession.”

The first goal of the second half came just a minute into it as Caitlyn Cummings knocked in a shot with an assist from Margaret Beaver.

Nine minutes later, Angelika Anderson made it 3-1 with an assist from Morgan Smallwood.

The final Brandywine goal came in the 54th minute in as Beaver scored with an assist from Low.

Bridgman…1

Brandywine…4

Halftime score

Bridgman 1, Brandywine 1

First half

BW – Mackenzie Shelton 13th minute

BR – Brittany Doehrer 24th minute

Second half

BW – Caitlyn Cummings 41st minute (Margaret Beaver assist)

BW – Angelika Anderson 50th minute (Morgan Smallwood assist)

BW – Beaver 54th minute (Sam Low assist)

Shots on goal

Bridgman 3

Brandywine 9

Saves

Bridgman 5 (Yesenia Pierce-Pedrosa)

Brandywine 2 (Carlie Newman)