Manchester Kickers Top LCA CougarsWINONA LAKE – Manchester’s boys soccer team needed to revamp itself after losing a star player. Tuesday’s 6-3 win at Lakeland Christian went a long way toward that makeover.
Sophomore Harley Kruschwitz is probably out for the season with a knee injury, according to Manchester coach Dave McKee. The Squires have been looking for an offensive spark in the two games since, scoring only once in the matches.
Junior Isaiah Davis remedied that in the first 14 minutes Tuesday, scoring twice. He later added an insurance goal in the final two minutes to complete a hat trick.
“Our offense has needed to reinvent themselves without Harley,” McKee said. “We changed things around a little bit, and sometimes people don’t adapt well to change.
“But they did (Tuesday), and I’m pretty proud of them. It was the weakest I’ve seen our defense, but we can get that fixed.”
Manchester’s defense kept the Cougars at bay for the first 50 minutes of the game, long enough to build a 4-0 lead. Lakeland Christian began to mount a comeback, with Parker Stewart finding the goal three times in 23 minutes and having a possible fourth goal rebound off an upright.
An own goal off the back of Cougar Trae Harris on a ball that hit the crossbar kept LCA from inching closer.
“We were a little bit asleep in the first five, 10 minutes of the game, and they scored a couple of goals to wake us up,” Cougar coach Vincent Sell said. “In the second half we were in a battle. I feel a lot better about the second half than I did the first half.
“We changed things around in the second half to get (Stewart) a couple of more touches. We moved Garrett McCoomb up front because he’s a little bit more of a deep threat.
“Some games you have a hot guy, and you have to find the hot guy’s feet, and we did that, but it was a little late.”
Manchester had a pair of goals from Brandon Wagoner as well. Nathan Self had two assists, with Noah Beck and Caleb Stout picking up an assist each. McCoomb and Mark McQuade had assists for Lakeland Christian.
Manchester picked up its 10th win, and has won at least 10 games in each of the last seven seasons. The Squires’ next match will be Sept. 28 at Three Rivers Conference foe North Miami.
Lakeland Christian fell to 5-8 and will play at Tippecanoe Valley Thursday.
