Dowagiac freshman goalie Mara Nelson had little time to relax in Monday’s girls soccer match against Edwardsburg.

The Eddies put consistent pressure on Nelson and finished with 36 shots on goal in an 8-0 Wolverine Conference win over the shorthanded Chieftains.

“We didn’t play well on defense,” said Dowagiac coach Craig Black. “This is probably the worst we’ve played defensively all year.”

Edwardsburg coach Brett Harring has seen his team do better this year when it came to shots in a match. The difference on Monday was that the Eddies did a much better job of finishing.

“We actually went beyond that (on shots on goal) against Coloma the other night and only scored four goals,” said Harring, whose team beat the Comets, 4-0. “We definitely get shots. It just a matter of keeping patient and looking for a good shot. Some days we finish and some days we don’t. Today, thankfully, we put the ball in the net.”

Edwardsburg totaled 23 shots in the first half and got two goals from Ally McIntee and one from Brittany Udell. Udell’s goal came almost four minutes into the match.

Anna Roberts scored twice for Edwardsburg in the second half, while teammates Jennifer Sporleder, Paige Szlanfucht and Payton Szlanfucht each added one goal. Payton’s came with 2:25 left in the match and it gave the Eddies a mercy-rule win.

“In the second half we gave up getting our own goals and kept moving the ball,” Harring said. “We tend to get a little bit selfish when we get up in games. The girls are learning that it’s just as exciting to celebrate with your teammates rather than score your own goal.”

The match was the regular season home finale for Dowagiac, which finished with four shots on goal.

“It definitely wasn’t the way we wanted Senior Night to go,” Black said. “We just basically played a good Edwardsburg team. We played a much better second half. We had some girls step up even with our senior sweeper (Brooke Parritt) getting taken out at the end. We’re afraid she might have cracked a rib after a girl fell on top of her.”

Going into the game, Dowagiac was playing without three starters because of injuries. The Chieftains have five freshmen and seven sophomores on their varsity roster.

“No subs,” Black said. “We had a couple girls that would have been on our JV program playing up front the whole game. That makes things difficult to play a lot of offense. But, my goal from the beginning of the year, is to get us to play better every game. We have Bangor on Friday and that’s a very winnable game and we have Coloma in the first round of districts (May 20) at home that should be a competitive game.”

The news wasn’t all good for Edwardsburg as the Eddies lost freshman Gabi Fonseca to an injury late in the first half. She was taken off the field on a stretcher.

“Something with her knee,” Harring said. “It started bruising immediately. I don’t want to say anything out of respect to her and her family. I definitely wasn’t thrilled about it and it’s not something you want to go into halftime with. I hope everything will be allright with her. She’s had trouble with that knee before.

“She played forward at the beginning of the year and moved back towards the back of our midfield. We’ve given up only one goal with her on the field so she’s been very important.”

In the first half, Fonseca had all three of Edwardsburg’s corner kicks and two shots on goal.

 

Edwardsburg…8

Dowagiac…0

Halftime score

Edwardsburg 3, Dowagiac 0.

 

First half

E – Brittany Udell (Jennifer Sporleder) 38:52

E – Ally McIntee 25:05

E – McIntee 14:39

 

Second half

E – Sporleder 35:48

E – Paige Szlanfucht 34:34

E – Anna Roberts 30:00

E – Roberts 21:47

E – Payton Szlanfucht 2:25

 

Shots on goal

Edwardsburg 36, Dowagiac 4.

 

Saves

Alexis Blake (E) 0, Steph Hodges (E) 2, Mara Nelson (D) 13

 

Corner kicks

Edwardsburg 3, Dowagiac 2

 

Varsity records: Edwardsburg 5-5, 3-1 West Division; Dowagiac 2-9, 1-3 West Division