By By TOM NYHUIS / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN – With temperatures in the low 40s and a stiff breeze blowing in from the north, it was a chilly afternoon at Buchanan's Vandenberg soccer complex as the Bucks hosted Michigan Lutheran in varsity soccer action on Monday.
Buchanan didn't let a chill in the air keep them from heating up the action on the field, taking the 5-1 non-league win over the Titans.
The victory was Buchanan's first of the season as they improve to 1-4-0, 0-1-0 in the Lakeland Conference.
The Titans got on the board first at the 11-minute mark on a goal by Holly Swisher, sneaking the ball past a diving Robyn Bahr in the right corner of the net. The senior goalkeeper made stops of Michigan Luthern's other shots on goal, which was limited to just four for the Titans.
At the other end of the field, the Lady Bucks continuously hammered the ball at the goal looking to find the back of the net. An early goal was waved off after Buchanan was whistled offsides prior to the ball sailing into the net. "That was kind of a downer for us having that goal waved off," Buchanan coach Jo Schau said after the win. "It put everybody down."
Repeated shots on goal by Buchanan came up empty in the first half and the Titans were holding onto the 1-0 lead as the first half was coming to an end. With just under a minute to play in the first half, Alexis Reagan tied the game finding the back of the net for the Lady Bucks.
That late goal by Reagan fired the entire team up in the second half as the Buchanan offense controlled the ball and continued to fire the ball at the Titan goalkeeper.
"That late goal in the first half ignited our fire," Schau said. "She put the ball on target, it went into the goal, that lit us up for the second half."
Torrie Eger broke the tie seven minutes into the second half on a break away at midfield and launched a shot over the goalkeeper's head and lifted the Lady Bucks to a 2-1 lead.
"We were getting frustrated coming out and playing hard and not coming out the Ws (wins). We worked hard over spring break on how to find the back of the net. You can't win a game when you can't find the back of the net. They came out in the second half with a positive attitude, played hard, and took it to them and did a really good job of team work getting the ball around and getting the open shots," Schau said
Buchanan didn't let up working hard to keep control of the ball in their half of the field. At the 18 minute mark, Mary Martin extended the Lady Bucks lead 3-1 with a goal. Ashley Lolmaugh punched the ball into the back of the net 30 seconds later and Amanda Wynn finished off the Lady Bucks scoring in the 21st minute.
Buchanan finished the game with 29 shots on goal.
"We played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the snow and I got a lot of weird looks for that, but it paid off today. It felt like a tropical heat wave today," Schau said.
The Lady Bucks travel today to take on Lakeland Conference foe Bridgman and will finish the week out hosting Parchment on Friday.