It was not the ending a youthful Cassopolis squad was hoping for Wednesday night, but with no true seniors and nine freshmen on the squad, the future looks bright for the Ranger soccer team.

Visiting New Buffalo scored back-to-back goals midway through the first half of the Division 4 district semifinals to Cassopolis 2-1.

The Bison faced Lake Michigan Catholic, which blanked Brandywine 7-0 Wednesday, in the title match at Ross Beatty Jr.-Sr. High School Thursday.

Cassopolis got on the scoreboard first as Lane Francis scored on a penalty kick.

From there the two teams moved up and down the pitch with neither team getting many quality scoring chances.

But that all changed when New Buffalo’s Sotiri found the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1.

Within a matter of minutes, just like in the first meeting between the two teams during BCS Athletic Conference action, the Bison had another goal.

Grant Fadden scored what turned out to the winning goal as beat keeper Jason Sopaseuth.

“It was frustrating how similar it was to the first match,” Cassopolis coach Austin Francis said. “They were goals we shouldn’t have given up. They were ones we easily defended.”

Francis was disappointed that his team did not play through the whistles.

“I think we gave up those goals because guys thought there was an offsides call that never got called,” he said. “They should have kept playing waiting for the whistle, but instead they stopped. That is kind of on us.”

Francis also took the blame for his team not being more aggressive.

“I coached more conservatively when I probably should have stayed in our game and played more aggressively.”

The Rangers have plenty to look forward to in the future as its stop scorer, Kiambu Gary, is a junior. Gary scored more than 40 goals this season.

“I am proud of our guys,” Francis said. “For having no seniors other than two foreign exchange students, we have high hopes for next year. We have nine freshmen so this was a good experience and hopefully it will motivate them to work harder for next year.”

 

LMC 7, Brandywine 0

Andrew Kangas scored three goals to lead Lake Michigan Catholic to a 7-0 win over Brandywine in Evan Winkler’s final game as the Bobcats’ coach.

Winkler accepted the assistant principal’s position at Niles Ring Lardner just prior to the start of the school year.

Brandywine was outshot by the Lakers 22-3.

Lake Michigan also got goals from Andreijus Gaska, Manny Insidioso-Tucker and Nati Schueneman.

 

NEW BUFFALO 2, CASSOPOLIS 1

At Cassopolis

Halftime score

New Buffalo 2, Cassopolis 1

 

First half

C – Lane Francis.

NB – Sotiri Margaritis.

NB – Grant Fadden.

 

Saves

New Buffalo 9

Cassopolis 6

 

Corner kicks

New Buffalo 5

Cassopolis 5

 

LAKE MICHIGAN 7, BRANDYWINE 0

At St. Joseph

Lake Michigan goals

Andrew Kangas (3), Andreijus Gaska, Manny Insidioso-Tucker, Nati Schueneman, Andrew Zuhl.

 

Lake Michigan assists

Gaska, Ben Janson, Nathan Jason, Zuhl.

 

Shots on goal

Brandywine 3

Lake Michigan 22

 

Saves

Brandywine 15

Lake Michigan 3

 

Corner kicks

Brandywine 0

Lake Michigan 12