The Manchester boys soccer team has enjoyed a very successful start to Three Rivers Conference play this season. That trend continued on Tuesday night, as the Squires cruised to a 8-0 win over TRC foe Rochester to improve to 4-2-1 this season. Manchester remains unbeaten in conference, now sitting at 2-0-1.
The first few minutes of the game were played almost exclusively in the midfield, as both sides took the first few ticks off of the clock to feel out their opponent. Not much went down in these initial minutes, as attacks for both sides were quickly thwarted by some timely defending.
Fans wouldn’t have to wait too long for some excitement though, as just under five minutes into the contest, the first goal would be scored. A misplay by a Rochester midfielder would give Squire striker Tyler McLain the game’s first big opportunity. The misplay would put the ball in no man’s land, giving the Manchester senior an open run at the net after a controlling dribble. McLain would take it all the way, beating the Zebra keeper to score the opener.
Not much else would happen for nearly 10 minutes until the Squires would strike again. After scoring on his first chance unassisted, McLain received a perfect deep ball from midfielder Wyatt Young, splitting the defense and creating another chance for the striker. McLain would not squander this opportunity either, putting the ball into the back of the net and doubling the Manchester lead 14 minutes into the contest.
Two minutes after that, the Squires continued to benefit from their aggressiveness. With plenty of players pushed up and tons of options in the box to choose from, Colton Reffitt would pick out Isaiah Acosta in the sea of players, and Acosta would do the rest. Playing the cross perfectly, the sophomore would send a rocket into the upper right corner of the goal to make it a 3-0 game.
Following the Squire scoring spree, things got quiet once again. The Zebras had their only real chance of the half following the cooling break, but the opportunity was quickly squashed by the Manchester defense.

    Manchester senior Riley Shock advances the ball upfield during Manchester's home match against Rochester Tuesday evening. Photo by Gary Nieter

With about 10 minutes to go in the half, McLain scored his third goal of the game, but was ruled offside, negating the hat trick. It wouldn’t matter much, and the striker would get it anyways, as Reffitt would pick up his second assist of the game in the 38th minute, finding McLain on a cross and letting the senior make it a 4-0 game.
Just over a minute into the second half of play, Acosta had a goal of his own taken off the board due to an offside call. Following the disallowed goal, Manchester had a plethora of chances to extend its lead, but the shots created off of said chances either sailed wide or tall of the goal.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Squires would finally extend the lead. Lasse Jansen would earn himself an assist, setting up McLain perfectly for his fourth goal of the game.
Following the second half’s cooling break, the Squires got down to business once again. Diego Munoz was able to create space after a beautiful lead ball from Riley Shock, sending the ball off of the Zebra keeper’s left hand and into the net to make it a half-dozen goals for Manchester.
Outside of a shot on goal with about ten minutes left, the Zebras were never able to figure out much on offense, thanks in part to some hard nosed defending by the Manchester defense. Dylan Hernandez in particular played an incredibly dominant game.
Evan Martynowicz put the exclamation point on the win with a gorgeous goal in the 32nd minute. Martynowicz made a handful of Zebra defenders look silly on a magnificent run to goal, weaving through the pitch and making it look effortless.
Chandler Music would get onto the score sheet with four minutes left on a long goal of his own.
The Squires play a nonconference game at home on Thursday evening against Eastbrook.