By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Losing a key defensive player 10 minutes into the first game is not how teams want to start off the season, but that's the hand the Niles varsity soccer team was dealt Friday evening.
The Vikings opened the 2004 season with a 6-0 loss to Vicksburg, but the loss of starting defender Kaylee Bonner to an injury early in the game may hurt more than the final score.
The extent of Bonner's ankle injury was not known at the end of the game. She left the game to have x-rays taken.
Niles held Vicksburg to one goal in the first half.
Samantha Meyers scored the first of her eventual hat trick with 19:46 left in the first half.
The Bulldogs fired 18 shots, not all on goal, before halftime and Niles goalkeeper Ashley Shuster made 10 saves in the first half.
Niles did not manage any shots on the Vicksburg goal.
The Bulldogs got off another 11 shots in the second half and Shuster again made 10 saves.
Meyers scored twice in the second half. Lindsay Bialas, Megan Simmonds and Erin Kittredge each scored one goal for Vicksburg.
Niles will play in the Dowagiac Tournament today before travelling to Three Rivers on Monday.