This post was submitted by Emerson Jones (10, J&C).

South Oldham defeated the boys’ soccer team on Sept. 30 at Manual Stadium. The game ended with a score of two to zero. South Oldham scored their first goal in the twenty-first minute of the first half when a South Oldham player received and shot the ball in the box off of a free kick.

Both teams had six fouls during the match, including one that resulted in a yellow card given to Manual player #3 Joe Wilkie (12, HSU). South Oldham scored off of a corner kick, but their goal did not count as a result of a foul on Manual’s goalie Enrique Calderon (12, HSU). Enrique later made a diving save when the ball hit against the post and rolled in front of the open goal.

Manual had several chances to score including a free kick about five yards outside of the eighteen-yard box. Manual’s “Crimson Crazies” were there to cheer the team on any chance that they could. 

South Oldham scored the second goal with five minutes left in the second half, when a South Oldham player received the ball off of a long throw-in on the left side of the field, got past one of Manuals’ players, and placed the ball in the lower-left corner of the net.

Nick Pace (11, HSU), commented on the boys’ loss and explained “We got outworked the entire game, they [South Oldham] won all of the fifty-fifty balls, we didn’t get to the second ball, and we were unlucky on some crosses where they scored”. 

This was Manual’s last game before entering the district round of the state tournament. Hunter Oswald (12, MST) explained what the team needed to do to improve after the game in preparation for the state tournament. “Our district games will be pretty easy, but we still need to focus on what we want to do in regionals mainly we will need to focus on keeping the ball, possessing, work-rate, and intensity,” Oswald said.

The Manual team plays their first district game against Central on Wednesday, October 6.