DOWAGIAC — Ties they say, are like kissing your sister. No one is satisfied.

That old saying was never more true than following the Dowagiac and Niles non-conference soccer match Tuesday night.

Visiting Niles jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Chieftains, who rallied to force a 2-2 tie.

“We definitely could have played a lot better,” said Niles coach Ryan Haines. “In my opinion, this is a game we should have won based on our SMAC play. That is no disrespect to Mike (Williams) and how they (Dowagiac) are doing, but I felt we could have come out with a win, especially the way it started.”

The Vikings scored two quick goals just three minutes apart as Bryant Echeverria notched his 16th of the season at the nine-minute mark off the assist by Adam Shepherd.

Cooper Hullinger followed that up with a goal in the 12th minute, which was also assisted by Shepherd.

Dowagiac responded by picking up its play and cutting the Vikings’ lead in half before the end of the opening 40 minutes.

Cristian Wilson scored on a penalty kick in the 35th minute.

The match turned chippy from that point and with just seconds remaining on the clock, Dowagiac’s Johnny Ruiz and Echeverria got tangled up and both players received yellow cards.

While the official was administering to that situation the first-half clock expired, giving both teams 10 minutes to cool down.

It worked as the second half was devoid of the extracurricular play and ended up being well-played, hard-fought 40 minutes.

Dowagiac got the lone goal of the second half in the 52nd minute when Jose Carrillo scored an unassisted goal to tie the match.

Both teams had quality scoring chances, but were unable to cash in.

“We had plenty of opportunities,” said Dowagiac coach Mike Williams. “We just did not play the first 10 minutes at all. I guess we thought we could jog to balls and they would come to us. We need the mentality that we need to get to ball immediately and run to balls immediately because Niles just beat us non-stop to the ball.”

Williams made an adjustment in the midfield, which helped Dowagiac over the final 70 minutes.

“I put someone quicker in the center to help out with that and it definitely made a difference.”

The Chieftains had the better of those scoring chances in the second half, including two shots in the final five minutes that bounced off the post.

Dowagiac held a 17-10 advantage in shots on goal according to the Chieftains’ statistics.

Drew Gourlay had 10 saves for the Vikings, while Victor Zavala stopped eight Niles shots.

The Chieftains won the JV match with an 8-0 win over Niles.

Cole Weller scored three goals for the Chieftains, who also got two goals each from Jordan Simpson and Ethan Hannapel.

Dowagiac was back in action Wednesday night as it traveled to Three Rivers for a Wolverine Conference match.

Niles returns to SMAC play when it faces host Portage Northern tonight.