NORTH MANCHESTER - There were two goals scored Tuesday at North Manchester's Good Fields. The only problem was neither counted.
In a game that ended in a scoreless tie between the Lakeland Christian Academy (5-8-1) and Manchester (4-5-1) boys soccer teams, each team had a score wiped away because of an offsides call."I see a lot of positives coming out of this," Manchester coach Dave McKee said. "I felt we controlled three-quarters of the game. We had more shots on goal, we just need to finish. This is the best passing I've seen the team do this year. They played it on both sides."
The game was LCA's third in four days, having lost 7-0 to Warsaw Saturday and 3-2 to Argos Monday.
"I think we're pretty tired right now after playing a lot of games," LCA coach Joel Popenfoose said. "We're still not playing up to the level we were at the middle of the season. We have the talent. It's just coming together as a team and playing with intensity for 80 minutes."
In the first half, LCA had two golden opportunities to score, the first coming off a penalty kick by sophomore Stephen Danielian that just went left of the goal.
"We usually have a team that finishes pretty well, especially Danielian," Popenfoose said. "He has 16 goals for us and he's made four penalty kicks for us so far."
With just under four minutes remaining in the half, junior Bryce Glock appeared to have put the Cougars on the board, but the celebration was short lived after offsides was called.
Manchester's best shot at a first-half goal came in the 10th minute, when senior Josh Hanback drilled a shot to the goal, but LCA senior goalkeeper Jacob Cole got in front of it, deflecting it off the crossbar.
"Credit their goalie, he was not going to let a ball get in," McKee said about Cole who, finished the game with seven saves. "He was not going to let a ball get in. He's a great keeper."
The one ball that did get past Cole came from junior Derek Self, who used his chest to get the ball in the net. However, just like with Glock, the goal was nullified because of an offsides call late in the second half.
The last prime shot at a goal came from Danielian, who attacked the Manchester goal with under a minute to go, but his shot from the right side went to the left with 23 seconds remaining.
"I usually don't believe in marking up, but I asked Devan Knecht to know where he was at all times," McKee said about defending Danielian.
"We had four or five shots right at the end, but those were our only chances in the second half," Popenfoose said. "If we would have played like that the entire second half, we could have scored. When it's the last 10 minutes, there's almost no chance."
Manchester did get six shots on goal to LCA's three, but when it was all said and done, each team had the same number of goals - zero.
"My hat's off to both teams," McKee said. "Hard fought game."
LCA travels to Bremen Thursday, while Manchester's next game is Tuesday at Winamac.
LAKELAND CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 0, MANCHESTER 0
Shots - LCA 8, Manchester 16; Shots on Goal - LCA 3, Manchester 8; Saves - LCA (Jacob Cole) 7, Manchester (Dylan Grossnickle) 2; Penalties - LCA 7, Manchester 1; Corner Kicks - LCA 3, Manchester 1; Offsides - LCA 1, Manchester 4; Records: LCA 5-8-1, Manchester 4-5-1
