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VICKSBURG — Brayden Fischer’s game-winning goal with 2:38 left in the second half lifted the Edwardsburg boys’ soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 Division 2 district semifinal win over Stevensville-Lakeshore Tuesday in Vicksburg. 

No. 6-ranked Edwardsburg (15-1-1) advances to Thursday’s district championship match at 7 p.m. against state-ranked St. Joseph (15-2-2). 

St. Joseph beat Coldwater 3-2 in a shootout in Tuesday’s second semifinal match. 

“Brayden has had a great season for us. He’s one of our leading goal scorers. He just has a nose for the goal with good pace on the ball. Tonight he just found one on his feet at the right time and he buried it,” said Edwardsburg head coach Sean Jesse. 

Fischer, a junior, also scored the Eddies’ first goal of the match at the 36:52 mark of the first half off an assist from senior Mobias Stubblefield. That goal stood and sent the Eddies into intermission  with a 1-0 advantage. 

“Scoring that early in the match is always a challenge and sometimes it can hurt you. I thought Lakeshore was real gritty today and put us out of position alot of times. We wanted to actually play real position soccer and they were physical enough to get us away from that several times,” Jesse said. “But after they (Lancers) scored that goal, our kids got a determined look on their faces. I think those last 20 minute, especially the final 10 our kids were really chomping at the bit trying to get another goal. In the playoffs I think it just comes down to who wants it the most. There’s no doubt about it, this is a really difficult district with several ranked teams.”

Lakeshore (10-6-1) tied the score at 1-1 on Blake Fichtner’s penalty-kick goal with 28:35 left in the match.

Knowing Lakeshore had a ton of talent in its center-midfield, Jesse challenged his midfielders to rise to the occasion and those players did exactly that. 

“Landon Goetz, Riley Szalai and Alecksandr Rodriguez all al stepped up their game in that spot for us,” Jesse said. 

Out of the 12 goals Edwardsburg has given up this season, four of those have been on penalty kicks. 

“Give credit to our back-line. They are strong and don’t backdown from anyone. They all read the game well and play very good soccer,” Jesse said. 

Jesse also singled out the play of his starting senior center-middle back Austin Leak. 

“Austin played a real strong matdh for us tonight as well,” Jesse said. 

Experience has been a critical factor in Edwardsburg’s success this season. 

“Last year we only had five seniors and we had several freshmen who were starters as well. Now those freshmen are sophomores and they are holding their own. Our senior class decided this year to set a culture through the hard work that we’ve put in since last winter,” Jesse said. 

Edwardsburg returns to the district championship match for the first time since the 2023 season. The Eddies recorded 15 shots on goal to eight attempts for the Lancers. 

Edwardsburg had five corner kicks to one for Lakeshore. Sophomore goal keeper Law Gates had six saves for Edwardsburg.