EDWARDSBURG — Edwardsburg’s dominance on the wings helped the Eddies to a 4-0 shutout win over visiting Niles in Wednesday’s Division 2 district boys’ soccer quarterfinal.
Edwardsburg (11-4-3) will host St. Joseph, a 1-0 winner over Vicksburg, in one semifinal on Monday. The other semifinal pits Sturgis against the winner of today’s matchup between Paw Paw and Stevensville-Lakeshore. Semifinals winners meet in the finals on Thursday, Oct. 17.
“Niles is a very competitive team and we knew they were going to give us fits in areas of pressure. We had a great game plan coming in and we executed it very well. There were a few moments where their pressure made us lose track where the ball was at, but I think we handled it well. We managed to battle through the moments when we took a play off. That kind of effort leads to goals and it worked out for us today,” said Edwardsburg head coach Sean Jesse.
The Eddies found the back of the net twice to secure themselves a 2-0 advantage after one half.
Junior Mobias Stubblefield recorded an unassisted goal to put Edwardsburg up 1-0 at the 31:22 mark. The second Eddies’ goal came at 17:19 from junior Maverick Gates off an assist from senior Lenoxx Myers.
Freshman Collin Teft (15:58) and sophomore Zach Jacobs (1:47) both added unassisted goals for Edwardsburg during the second half.
Niles’ only real scoring opportunity on the night came with just 5:24 left in the opening half off a free kick by Ceon Kirtdoll.
Edwardsburg had 13 shots on goal to three for Niles. The Eddies finished the match with seven corner kicks.
“Our wing play has helped make us a dangerous team. I thought Collin Myers and Lennox Myers both had a fantastic day and our center back Austin Leak helped keep us calm. I thought our midfielder Landon Goetz did a super job of holding and distributing the ball,” Jesse added.
“We believe in getting one percent better every day. I think we matchup well with anyone in this district. We just have to keep pushing and not take anything for granted.”
Freshman goalie Law Gates recorded the shutout for Edwardsburg and he registered three saves.
“Law is always communicating in the back and we get value from that. He stands up in those big moments like the free kick by Niles that he was able to push wide tonight,” Jesse said.
While Niles head coach Scott Riggenbach was disappointed to see the season end, he is very optimistic about the Vikings’ future.
Niles will graduate 11 seniors, but will return seven sophomores and seven juniors next fall.
“Edwardsburg is a very skilled team that can work the ball very well. I thought, however, that our kids played with a great deal of intensity. We have a lot of kids who have heart and its just a matter of building our skill set. We got a lot of young kids into the match today and it was gratifying to see them all keep fighting,” said Riggenbach, whose Vikings end the season 9-10-1.
“Our seniors Owen Podlin, Aydan McCarey and Peyton Burger have all been starters since they were sophomores. They have been anchors for us. We’re going to miss all of our seniors because they worked very hard and kept improving.”
Riggenbach also complimented the play of his junior goalkeeper Josue Gonzalez who had three saves.
“This is Josue’s first year as a varsity keeper. He’s still a work in progress, but he returns next year for us and we will look to him to be a big leader,” Riggenbach said.
The post Edwardsburg soccer blanks Niles in district opener appeared first on Leader Publications .
Local News
Comments / 0