By MIKE MORRISON

Leader Publications Contributor

COVERT — A sluggish start for the Brandywine girls soccer team didn’t last long during a windy night in Covert against the host Bulldogs.

After the potential first goal of the game scored by Covert two minutes in was called back because of offsides, it quickly woke up the Bobcats. Brandywine (4-3-1) played aggressively the rest of the game and cruised to their second shutout victory of the season 4-0 Wednesday night.

Coach Katie Kovac had a game plan for her team to perform and they hit on all cylinders.

“I’ve been telling the girls to start playing outside the 18 (foot line) so the goalie can’t run and get it,” Kovac said. “We were putting more focus on that and they were cognitively doing it. Once we got the nerves out (from the start) we were able to play pretty well.”

That thinking worked. For the second straight game freshmen Kelli Scoggin got the Cats on the board midway through the first half with an impressive 25-yard kick from the right side of the field that went straight into the other side of the net.

After that the Bobcats were able to feed their seniors the ball the rest of the way. Amber Boocher and Alexia Martinez would score the next three goals for the Bobcats. 

Martinez, who leads the team with six goals on the season, knew her game needed to improve to get the team back on track.

“I shot a lot today,” Martinez said after connecting one of her eight shots. “The ball was coming in so much up the middle. I was just trying to get more shots on goal because I’ve been lacking lately and today was a lot like target practice for me as well as my team. This was a good game for us to get back into the groove of things like in the start of the season.”

Kovac was pleased that her seniors, Boocher and Martinez, got the offense back to where it needed to be.

“They have good intentions but I think they are starting to realize that they need to really step it up without the girls from last year and they did that today.”

Brandywine is off until Monday when it hosts Parchment in a BCS Conference match.

Dowagiac soccer

SOUTH HAVEN — Visiting Dowagiac was blanked by South Haven 5-0 in Wolverine Conference soccer Wednesday.

“It was a rough night for us tonight against South Haven,” said Dowagiac coach Chad Davis. “We couldn’t move the ball the way we wanted to and things just did not go our way. The girls did their best fighting through adversity. With having a young team, sometimes that happens. I consider it a lesson learned.”

Buchanan soccer

BRIDGMAN — The Buchanan soccer team went 2-1 in its last three matches.

The Bucks lost to South Haven 7-2 before blanking New Buffalo 7-0 and falling to Bridgman 6-2.

Scoring goals for Buchanan against South Haven were Austynn Dalton and Erica Mitchell. Mitchell and Cora Schau scored the goals against the Bees.

In the win over New Buffalo, Kassidy Koenigshof had a pair of goals and an assist.

Also scoring were Lucie Behrle, Mitchell, Zoe Mittan, Emily Waggoner and Scotland Philip.

Edwardsburg soccer

EDWARDSBURG — MaKenna Fonseca had the lone goal for the Eddies in their 3-1 Wolverine Conference loss to Vicksburg.

Edwardsburg is now 3-3 overall and 0-2 in conference matches.

BRANDYWINE 4, COVERT 0

At Covert
Halftime score

Brandywine 3, Cover 0

First half

BW: Kelli Scoggin 23rd minute (Krishna Devdhara assist)
BW: Amber Boocher 31st minute (Alexia Martinez assist)
BW: Martinez 36th minute (Boocher assist)

Second half
BW: Boocher 44th minute (Taylor Derscha assist)

Shots on goal

Brandywine 28
Covert 7

Saves

Brandywine: 3 (Gabby Inman)
Covert: 18 (Sheyla Rodriguez)

SOUTH HAVEN 7, BUCHANAN 2

Buchanan goals

Austynn Dalton, Erica Mitchell

BUCHANAN 7, NEW BUFFALO 0

Buchanan goals

Lucie Behrle, Erica Mitchell, Zoe Mittan (PK), Emily Waggoner (Kassidy Koenigshof assist), Scotland Philip, Koenigshof 2 (PK)

BRIDGMAN 6, BUCHANAN 2

At Buchanan

Halftime score

Bridgman 3, Buchanan 0

Bridgman goals

Lauren Keller 2, Erin Berni, Savanna Tate, Lily Badger, Morgan Granzow

Buchanan goals

Shots on goal

Bridgman 9, Buchanan 9

VICKSBURG 3, EDWARDSBURG 1

At Edwardsburg

Edwardsburg goal

Makenna Fonseca

Varsity record: Edwardsburg: 3-3, 0-2 Wolverine