A 40-yard sprint between Brandywine boys soccer play Brady Duval and a New Buffalo defender turned into a game-winning goal Monday as the Bobcats rallied past the Bison, 2-1, in BCS Athletic Conference crossover action.

The 1-on-1 battle ended with Duval scoring from inside five yards with 6:05 left in the match.

“(Duval) and Oky (Michael Okayama) can score any time they have the ball,” Brandywine coach Evan Winkler said. “They’re a great pair to have.”

The game-winning goal was the second in the match for Duval, who scored on a direct kick from 20 yards with 25:40 left in the second half to tie the contest at 1.

“He’s getting better and better,” Winkler said. “Brady is a great forward.”

The Bobcats won despite being outshot, 13-7. New Buffalo’s Sotiri Margaritis had a shot from 20 yards hit the crossbar with 2:30 left in the match. Margaritis scored from five yards with 30:55 left in the first half.

“Our forwards and midfielders needed to pick it up and be more aggressive in the second half,” Winkler said. “I thought we were a little lackadaisical back there.”

Winkler was happy with the way his defense responded after having a rough stretch last week in a 6-5 win over Cassopolis and a 5-2 loss to Buchanan.

Brandywine’s veteran coach was particularly pleased with the play he got from defenders Garrett Lerner, Grant Lerner, Wyatt Eager and Bret Jacobs and goalie Alex Horvath. Horvath had seven saves on Monday, including six in the second half.

“I thought that was huge,” Winkler said about his defense. “Our four defenders were sound.
“Last week we had 10 goals scored against us. I said before the game today that 10 goals is too many in a week. We worked a lot in practice last Friday on our defense. I wanted us to take pride in our defense today.

“I thought Alex played really well. The biggest I liked from him tonight was that he was coming out and getting a lot of those balls that were kind of through balls. If he didn’t do that we would have had to play them and a turnover might have happened and a goal could have gotten in. Alex has worked really, really hard and he’s gotten better every game.”

BRANDYWINE 2, NEW BUFFALO 1

At Brandwine

Halftime Score

New Buffalo 1, Brandywine 0
First Half

NB – Sotiri Margaritis 30:55
Second Half

BW – Brady Duval 25:40

BW – Duval 6:05
Shots on Goal

New Buffalo 13

Brandywine 7
Saves

New Buffalo 1 (Patrick Griffin)

Brandywine 7 (Alex Horvath)
Corner Kicks

New Buffalo 6

Brandywine 2
Varsity records: New Buffalo 9-6-1, Brandywine 6-12