Coming off of two straight losses, the Manchester boys soccer team looked to make a statement Thursday as the boys hosted Wabash for their second conference game of the season. Using crucial goals in the opening stages of both the first and second halves, the Squires remained unbeaten in the Three Rivers Conference with a 3-0 win.
Manchester used the game’s opening minutes to set a tone for the rest of the contest, controlling the ball in the offensive end, winning almost every 50/50 ball, and flat out dominating play. Even with the ball being played in the Wabash third for a majority of these opening 10 minutes, not much happened, with the Apaches doing well to prevent shots on goal.
That changed eleven minutes into the game. A perfect lead pass found the boot of Jayden Jimenez about 30 feet away from the net. Playing it perfectly, Jimenez remained onside but had nobody except for the keeper in front of him. The junior would make the most of his breakaway chance, burying his shot into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Squires a 1-0 advantage.
The home side had quite a few chances to extend that lead over the next few minutes, but the final pass near the box was unable to find its target on multiple occasions, keeping it a one-goal affair. Even still, Manchester was still a far cry above Wabash in the offensive department, as the visitors struggled to string enough passes together to get the ball to the other side of midfield.

    Junior Jayden Jimenez scores Manchester's first goal during Thursday evening's home game against Wabash...Nieter

Following a cooling break midway through the half, Jimenez nearly added on to his scoring total twice, beating his defender both times to set up two more breakaway chances. Unfortunately for the Squires, he was ruled offside both times, ending the threat right there.
That led to a section of the game where not much of note happened once again. The home team was able to put a few shots on goal during this stretch, but none of them were difficult for Wabash to deal with. The Apache goalkeeper stacked up the saves here without having to make a difficult one.
Looking to double their lead just before the break, Manchester looked much better in the final five minutes before halftime. The Squires had a couple of prime opportunities to add another goal, but both shots banged off the crossbar for goal kicks. Despite dominating the entire 40 minutes, the Squires’ lead stayed at just one.
It didn’t take much time to go by in the second half before Manchester finally scored their second. Taking a free kick four minutes in, sophomore Felix Breil split through the defenders perfectly to bury it in the back of the net and double his team’s lead.
While some teams might have been content to try and burn the clock while holding a two-goal edge, the Squires refused to take their feet off the gas. Manchester came awfully close to adding on to its lead in the minutes that followed, with some good shots being stopped by even better saves. Despite the team’s best efforts, it remained 2-0 as the two sides reached the cooling break at the midway point in the half.
Eventually, the persistence would pay off. After another spell of possession deep in the zone, Sophomore Jaxson Byers would find his teammate, fellow underclassman Gabriel Erbaugh with 15 minutes left. The freshman would do the rest, gently pushing one into the back left corner of the goal to make it a 3-0 game.
With about 10 minutes remaining, Squire goalie Evan McLaughlin, who hadn’t had to do anything besides cheer his team on up to this point, made his first save of the game on a ball shot right at him.
That was about the extent of the highlights, as Manchester was able to control play for the remainder of the contest, running out the clock and picking up the much needed victory.
Manchester (3-2-1, 2-0 TRC) plays its next game Tuesday at home against Tippecanoe Valley.