Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

DOWAGIAC — On a late Spring night that felt more like a cold autumn day in October, the Dowagiac girls’ soccer team overcame the elements and posted a 5-0 Division 3 district quarterfinal win over visiting Constantine Tuesday.

Dowagiac (11-6-1) advances to face Three Rivers (10-7-3) in next Tuesday’s district semifinal at 7 p.m. in Berrien Springs. The other semifinal at 5 p.m. pits Buchanan against the winner of today’s match in Berrien Springs between the host school and Hartford. The finals are Thursday, May 29 at 6 p.m. in Berrien Springs. 

“I thought we played a good match overall. We struggled to finish some scoring chances we had in the first half. At halftime we talked about staying patient and continuing to play our game and sticking to our priorities. I told the kids that the goals would come if we did what we were supposed to,” said Dowagiac head coach Joey Pasternak. 

With temperatures hovering in the high 40s by the end of the first half, the two teams played most of the match in a steady rain that at times turned heavy. 

Dowagiac’s sophomore midfielder Johanna McDonald scored the lone goal in the first half off an assist from classmate Jimena Sanchez-Ortega, a starting sophomore forward, giving the Lady Chieftains a 1-0 advantage with 16:42 left before intermission.

The match was halted 20 seconds into the second half because of lightning and the two teams waited out the required 30-minute delay inside Dowagiac High School. 

Pasternak addressed his team when they returned to the field encouraging them to continue playing solid defense and to be patient offensively. 

Just like they had the entire first half, Dowagiac controlled the entire second half and found the back of the net four times, including a hat trick by Jimena Sanchez-Ortega. 

Jimena Sanchez-Ortega scored her first goal of the night at the 31 minute mark of the second half off McDonald’s assist. Her second score came less than five minutes later at 26:58 and was unassisted for a 3-0 advantage. 

Alvia Bell, Dowagiac’s junior midfielder, got into the scoring act just a few minutes after when she put the ball past Constantine’s netminder for a 4-0 cushion. Freshman midfielder Sabrina Sanchez-Ortega was credited with the assist for the Chieftains. 

Jimena Sanchez-Ortega added an unassisted goal with a little over seven minutes left to cap Dowagiac’s scoring. 

“I was proud of how our girls were able to push through the weather distractions tonight and not let it affect their focus in the match. With these kind of matches anything can happen. One team could play very well in these kind of conditions and the other might not. Our girls did a nice job of not overcommiting on defense and giving it away. We did a nice job of winning the ball and never let things get to the point where the weather played a factor in them (Constantine) scoring goals against us,” Pasternak said. 

Dowagiac’s head coach singled out the performance of Jimena Sanchez-Ortega. 

“Jimena stepped up big for us today with her three goals. A lot of teams we play tend to collapse in on Johannah so she did a nice job of keeping her space and serving as a good decoy. That allowed our other girls to find the wide open space. She looked to the outside and that gave us a lot of opportunities,” Pasternak said. 

“Our defense stepped up and was extremely patient today. They contained and didn’t let the conditions affect them. Everyone played very well today for us. Sabrina played well on the other outside mid along with Alexandria Jijon.”  

Dowagiac recorded 23 shots on goal and didn’t allow a single shot on goal by Constantine. 

Dowagiac sophomore goalkeeper Chloe Friske recorded the shutout. 

Constantine’s goalie had 10 saves.

The Lady Chieftains had four corner kicks.  

“In looking ahead to its third meeting this season with Three Rivers, Pasternak said his ballclub must continue moving the ball, shifting, swinging and boost its ability to finish shots.

“We’re getting the shots that we need, we just have to finish them off,” Pasternak said.