By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
DOWAGIAC – The persistence of the Buchanan girls' varsity soccer team payed dividends for the Lady Bucks Tuesday afternoon as they picked up a 2-1 Division 3 district win over host Dowagiac.
The victory gave Buchanan its first district win in five years and advances first-year coach Chris Froelich and his team to South Haven on Thursday to face the winner of Tuesday's game between Paw Paw and Parchment.
The semi-final game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
In a scoreless first half, the Lady Bucks only manage to get five shots on goal, but were kept in the game by several nice saves by Buchanan backup goalie Kirsten Wardlaw.
Wardlaw replaced starter Shelby Welbaum, who is sidelined with a wrist injury.
"Kirsten has been our backup all year," Froelich said of his replacement. "She had one start against Michigan Lutheran and did really well and I feel good with her back there. The toughest thing is she is one of our strongest defenders and now we have to plug another defender in there. She played really well tonight and the defense did enough to win and some times that's all it takes."
Dowagiac's Morgan Tanzillo put the Chieftans on top 1-0 on a breakaway goal three minutes into the second half, beating the Buck defense and Wardlaw.
"Our girls gave good effort," Dowagiac coach Mike Williams said. "We broke down a couple of times and (Buchanan) took advantage. We had three good one-on-one opportunities with the keeper and shot it to early or didn't get a good step on the ball and end up losing as a result. They did play their best game of the year today. It's been a rough year and they played good today and I'm proud of them."
Dowagiac held the one goal lead for 14 minutes despite the Lady Bucks relentless shots on goal. Chieftain goalkeeper JoJo Pickar stayed strong, keeping the ball out of the net.
"It's tough to come out and play a team that you have beat earlier in the year. I think we were a little over confident. We tried to warn them of that and it took them (Dowagiac) to score a goal for us to get a little life. They finally realized that they had to come and play a soccer game today. They began to score off some shots and we got back to some of our good soccer techniques, taking the ball to the corner and playing good crosses," Froelich said after the win.
Buchanan had 18 second half shots on goal and there persistence payed off with their first goal coming off a corner kick from Andrea Hemminger.
Hemminger's corner kick was punched into the net off the foot of Leah Hunt at the 57th minute. Buchanan's go-ahead goal came less then three minutes later on Racheal Bahr's tap in with the assist going to Mary Martin.
A third insurance goal by the Bucks was called off after offsides was called.
Dowagiac's game tying goal with one second showing on the clock was also reversed as their offense was caught offsides preserving the win for Buchanan.
"I was confident in a 2-2 game with as many shots that we had. I would be confident going into overtime of course I'd much rather have the 2-1 victory in regulation," Froelich added.
Buchanan…2
Dowagiac…1
Halftime Score
Buchanan 0, Dowagiac 0
Second Half
D- Morgan Tanzillo 43rd minute (unassited)
B – Andrea Hemminger 58th minute (Leah Hunt assist)
B – Mary Martin 60th minute (Racheal Bahr assist)
Shots on Goal
Buchanan – 23
Dowagiac – 12
Saves
Buchanan – 11 (Kirsten Wardlaw)
Dowagiac – 21 (JoJo Pickar)