By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg girls’ varsity soccer team came up just short of picking up its first win of the season in a 2-1 loss to Dowagiac.
The Bulldogs, (0-5-2), were up 1-0 in the first half of the game before Dowagiac managed to tie it up. Vicksburg was still in the game until the final three minutes, when Dowagiac got a lucky bounce that allowed a goal with 2:43 left. The girls made a good push in the last minutes to try and tie it up again but ran out of time. Vicksburg’s lone goal came from Kendra Cooley after an excellent pass from Mackenzie Pryor.
“It was a beautiful goal, we were up 1-0 in the first half,” new Head Coach Lahou Boulner said. “We missed probably six or seven goals. In the second half we just couldn’t execute.
“Credit to Dowagiac for coming back in the second half and putting it to us,” he said.
Boulner has coached the boys’ team the last few seasons and last year saw that team finally make its first postseason appearance in years. Boulner is hopeful he can do the same with the girls. This year’s roster has an advantage of youth that should prove advantageous in the long run. There are only two seniors and two juniors. He said there’s a lot of work to do, but he’s hopeful for the rest of the year.
“We have the opportunity to grow as a team and we’re going to have a good season,” Boulner said.