VALPARAISO | Valparaiso coach Danny Jeftich made all the right halftime adjustments against Michigan City on Wednesday night.
Down a goal, Jeftich added a third forward to his lineup and instructed his players to bring the ball up the side and cross it toward the middle of the field.
Those changes led to four second-half goals in a span of 12 minutes and gave the Times No. 5 Vikings a 4-1 win over the Wolves in a Duneland Athletic Conference contest.
"We were able to do in the second half what we planned on doing in the first half, that is, taking the ball down the wing and crossing it into the middle," Jeftich said. "Once we went outside and brought it back in from our crosses, we were more successful. We hit more crosses, and finally we started finishing."
Trey Sorrells scored the game-winner off a set piece from a corner kick in the 62nd minute. Issac Withrow took the corner kick, and it bounced off of two Vikings before Sorrells could corral it and knock it past Michigan City keeper Lane Van Sickle.
Brendan Sutherland drew the Vikings (4-1, 2-1) even at 1-1 when he headed in a cross from Caleb Neal in the 55th minute.
"We played well for 60 minutes," Michigan City coach Bruce Stahl said. "We had a 1-0 lead, and then they got that first goal and the second one, and that kind of took the wind out of us."
Withrow and Berkley Ramsey each tallied a goal for the Vikings, who outshot the Wolves 28-10 and had an 18-5 edge in shots on goal. Valparaiso also had an 11-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Ian Ramirez, who came in to start the second half, made three saves in goal.
Sam Kintzele gave Michigan City (2-4-1, 0-3) the lead with a goal in the 37th minute. Aaron Henderson made a run past three Vikings defenders and sent a cross to Kintzele, who put it past a diving Ethan Lehnen. Kintzele and Henderson both left the game with injuries in the second half.
Van Sickle made 13 saves for the Wolves.
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