By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
NILES – For the first 40 minutes of Monday's league crossover match with fourth ranked Portage Northern Niles held the Huskies scoreless.
The second half was a total dominance by the Huskies as they went on to take a 6-0 win.
Niles goalie Autumn Lucero had a stellar first half, making stop after stop as Portage Northern hammered the ball at the net. In the end the Huskies fired 19 shots on goal with Lucero making 13 saves before Elizabeth Miller came on in the final minutes of the contest making one save.
For Niles they were held to just three shots on goal with those coming in the first half as the Huskie offense controlled the ball for nearly the whole contest on their side of the field.
Portage first goal of the day came at 42:39 of the second half with five more to find the back of the net through the final 38 minutes of the game.
"We opened it up in the second and played much better then we did in the first," Portage Northern coach Andy Fuehr said. "Niles has a good team and Jo (Schau) is doing a great job with her team."
The win improves the Huskies to 12-2-1.
"Our depth wasn't as great as it needed to be on our bench as we had three girls that couldn't even play for various reason and we weren't as fresh, but soon as we got scored on we put our heads down," Niles coach Jo Schau said following the loss. "It was hard to get our spirits back up even after they accomplished a pretty good first half. We shut out the No. 4 ranked team in the state the first half and we ride off of that, that joy, that experience and carry that through another half. That is something we are going to have to work on."
The Lady Vikes fall to 5-7-1 and will host Paw Paw on Saturday.
Portage Northern…6
Niles…0
Halftime score
Portage Northern 0, Niles 0
Second Half
PN – 42:39 unknown (assist Krista Clancy)
PN – 51:39 Samantha Kay (assist Mary McCarthy)
PN – 57:07 Samantha Kay (assist Alicia Comde Lopez)
PN – 63:34 Alicia Comde Lopez (assist Rachel Meyer)
PN – 71:57 Samantha Pace (assist Sidney Helmer and Alicia Comde Lopez)
PN – 78:43 Samantha Pace
Shots on Goal
Portage Northern – 19
Niles – 3
Saves
Portage Northern – 1 (Jillian Karrick)
Niles – 13 (Autumn Lucero, Elizabeth Miller)
Corner Kicks
Portage Northern – 12
Niles – 0