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THREE RIVERS – With several young players in his starting lineup, Dowagiac girls’ soccer coach Joey Pasternak knows there are going to be times when the Lady Chieftains are going to show some inconsistency on the field. 

Dowagiac’s 7-2 non-conference loss Monday on the road in Three Rivers was one of those nights. 

“At the beginning we came out strong, moving and swinging the ball and attacking as a team. As the match progressed we got away from doing that. We put our heads down and forced it through the middle, didn’t get back defensively and weren’t marking up. That left them wide open and I think they scored their first three goals off corner kicks,” Pasternak said.

Junior midfielder Alivia Bell gave Dowagiac (3-3-1) a 1-0 advantage at the 23:24 mark of the first half. Bell scored off a high chipshot into  the back of the net. Sophomore midfielder Johannah McDonald was credited with the assist for the Lady Chieftains.

Jenna Balog’s goal off a corner kick for Three Rivers at 20:44 evened the match up at 1-1.

Freshman forward Emerson Hershberger powered the ball into the back of the Dowagiac net about two minutes later at 18:42 and gave Three Rivers a 2-1 lead. 

McDonald scored Dowagiac’s next goal off an indirect kick with 11:18 left in the half, knotting the score up at 2-2. The Chieftains’ goal was unassisted. 

Tori Thorbjornsen scored back-to-back goals for Three Rivers at 8:26 and 7:21 for a 4-2 advantage. Her second goal came off a penalty kick.

Emma Sanchez completed the first-half scoring for Three Rivers with a goal at the 3:50 mark that put the Lady Cats up 5-2 at the break.

Natalie McGahan scored both second-half goals for Three Rivers at 30:05 and 21:48. 

McGahan was also credited with four assists on the night, Thorbjornsen racked up two and Savannah Morrill added one for the Lady Cats, now 3-2-1 overall. 

Three Rivers recorded 16 shots on goal to nine Dowagiac attempts. 

Dowagiac sophomore goal keeper Chloe Friske registered nine saves.

“Chole faced a lot of shots tonight, but I thought she played one of her better games of the season,” Pasternak said.

The Lady Chieftains had two corner kicks on the night to six for Three Rivers. 

Three Rivers goal keeper Rebekah Beachey finished with seven saves. 

Despite the loss, Pasternak continues to be encouraged by what he sees taking place within the program. 

“We are still adjusting to the pace of the game. We are a young team getting used to playing against seniors. I know we are capable of good things which we’ve shown already in our earlier matches. They key is finding that consistency for a full 80 minutes as a team. Three Rivers is a good team that made us pay for every mistake we made. We just have to return to practice and work on speeding up our game and moving together better,” Pasternak said.

As far as the remainder of the season goes, Pasternak says Dowagiac will rely heavily on every member of its 16-player roster. The Chieftains also field a 12-member junior varsity squad.