Lady Squires Blank Mississinewa In OpenerNORTH MANCHESTER - The field was a blur of black and red as the Machester Lady Squires defeated visiting Mississinewa 5-0 in a non-conference soccer match Wednesday.
The game marked the Indians' first competition of the regular season and the Squires' second, following a 2-0 loss against Columbia City Monday.
Following an offsides attempt less than a minute into the game by junior forward Emma Garriott, Beletu Stout, also a junior forward, scored the Lady Squires' first goal of the evening.
Garriott made a corner shot four minutes later, assisted by junior midfielder Lainey Shock, and another scoring drive with 13 minutes left in the half, this time unassisted.
Mississinewa's offensive Lia Luchetti and Alayna Webb were a match for the Lady Squires' defense during a "hot, long game," said Manchester head coach Jen Birch.
"I'm super proud of my keeper, Kindra Stetzel," said Birch. She said Stout passed well to her teammates and that Garriott is "lightning-fast and relentless as a forward."
An unassisted goal by junior Alexa Donathan brought the score to 4-0 by halftime, and Garriott followed through with another unassisted goal with 26 minutes left in the game. This tallied the teams at 5-0, a winning score.
As the 2019-2020 season is still young, the Lady Squires are trying different players on the field in different areas "to see how we fit and mold in certain positions," says Birch.
Their next matchups are away games: Wabash at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and Wawasee at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
