VICKSBURG — Four more goals for senior Alec Saylor helped the Dowagiac soccer team open up Wolverine Conference play with a 4-0 victory over host Vicksburg Thursday.

“[We] got off to a slow start the first 10 minutes, and then there was a storm delay,” said Dowagiac coach Mike Williams. “After the delay and some adjustments, we played with a lot more confidence and put the ball on goal, and Alec did a great job finishing again.

“It was a great game and finish to a good week of soccer.  We will continue to step up competition for the remainder of the season.

Saylor, who now has 15 goals on the year, scored in the 11th, 14th, 26th and 34th minutes of the opening half.

Cristian Wilson picked up the assist on the first goal, while Saylor scored on a deflection to make it 2-0.

Johnny Ruiz and Matt Mosier had the assists on the final two goals.

Goalkeeper Victor Zavala pitched the shutout for Dowagiac.

The Chieftains travel to Bridgman for a nonconference match at 5 p.m. Monday before hosting Three Rivers in a Wolverine Conference match, also slated to begin at 5 p.m.

 

DOWAGIAC 4, VICKSBURG O

At Vicksburg

Halftime score

Dowagiac 4, Vicksburg 0

 

First half

D – Alec Saylor 11th minute (Cristian Wilson assist).

D – Saylor 14th minute.

D – Saylor 26th minute (Johnny Ruiz assist).

D – Saylor 34th minute (Matt Mosier assist).

 

Shots on goal

Dowagiac 16

Vicksburg 7

Varsity record: Dowagiac 7-0, 1-0 Wolverine Conference

 

Niles soccer

Another night without a goal has the Niles soccer coaching staff searching for answers.

The Vikings dropped their third consecutive match, a 5-0 decision to visiting Portage Central Thursday night.

Niles (4-4) have been shut out in three straight SMAC matches.

“This year, every single team in the SMAC are even,” Niles coach Ryan Haines said. “The past three matches, our scores really do not reflect that. We are just not playing well. We lost to a Loy Norrix team 2-0 that we should have never lost to and they lost to Portage Northern on Tuesday by only 2-1.”

Haines said that he team really has not rebounded from a 3-2 loss to Edwardsburg on Aug. 23.

Niles defeated Sturgis and Bridgman in the two matches immediately following that loss, but have not yet won a SMAC contest.

“We had a good recovery on the Bridgman win, but since thing it has kind of trickled,” he said. “We still are trying to find where everyone fits. We lost 12 seniors and eight of them were starters. We wanted to focus more on a team aspect this year and not so much on individual play.”

 

PORTAGE CENTRAL 5, NILES 0

At Niles

Halftime score

Portage Central 2, Niles 0

 

First half

PC – Gunnar Fredericks 28th minute.

PC – Michael Ketteman 48th minute (Sam Scheffel assist).

 

Second half

PC – Kevin Wang 50th minute.

PC – Scheffel 54th minute.

 

Saves

Portage Central 2 (Kyle Toutanji)

Niles 4 (Drew Gourley)