Squires Cruise To Win Over Tippecanoe ValleyNORTH MANCHESTER – The Manchester Squires scored early and often Tuesday evening, and the end result was a dominating victory over the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings.
In a Three Rivers Conference boys soccer game at Good Fields in North Manchester, junior Caleb Stout put the host Squires on the scoreboard just 24 seconds into the match.
Manchester cruised from there as the home team scored six goals in each half of a 12-0 win.
“That’s what we were preaching before the game ... let’s just come out quick,” said Manchester coach Dave McKee, whose team improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the TRC standings.
“That’s what I told them, let’s come out quick. And it couldn’t have been much quicker. That just got us rolling, and no matter who was in the game, because our JV?players played about half the game also, they played well. The whole team played well, and they played well as a team. They did what we asked.”
The Squires led 2-0 in the first five minutes of the 80-minute match and led 4-0 just 13 minutes in.
The Vikings, who fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the TRC with their fourth straight loss, were outshot 20-1 by Manchester.
Juniors Harley Kruschwitz and Stout netted three goals each in the win, while senior Brandon Wagoner scored twice.
Junior Justin Self scored once for the Squires, while seniors Michael Wirsing, Logan Isbell and Dylan Brubaker all scored the first goal of their prep careers.
“We told them at halftime to just stay focused,” McKee said when asked about keeping his team in the game mentally after being up big early.
“I told them I?didn’t care if we scored another goal or not, just stay focused, work on things we need to work on, and they did.”
To go with his three goals, Kruschwitz assisted on four others, while Wagoner finished the contest with three assists of his own.
Freshman Logan Bishop tallied an assist, as did Stout and Isbell.
In all, seven Squires scored at least one goal and five had at least one assist.
Manchester has netted at least six goals in each of its four games this season and outscored its opponents by a total of 31-0.
“You talk about 31-0 in our four games, and that’s a lot of offense,” said McKee. “But how many teams in the state have played four games and had zero goals scored against them? I take a lot of pride withe my defense, and our offense is gonna be hard to stop. And we were missing a starter, Isaiah Davis, who I believe has scored in every game except this one.”
The Vikings were without sophomore Arturo Dominguez, who was sick and unable to play.
Valley is in action again Thursday when it hosts TRC rival Maconaquah, while the Squires entertain Columbia City Thursday.
MANCHESTER 12, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0
(Scoring)
M – Caleb Stout 1st minute
M – Harley Kruschwitz 5th min
M – Kruschwitz 12th min
M – Michael Wirsing 13th min
M – Stout 31st min
M – Kruschwitz 35th min
M – Justin Self 43rd min
M – Stout 43rd min
M – Wagoner 49th min
M – Wagoner 66th min
M – Logan Isbell 68th min
M – Dylan Brubaker 77th min
Assists – Kruschwitz 4, Wagoner 3, Logan Bishop 1, Isbell 1, Stout 1; Shots – Manchester 20, Valley 1
Records: Manchester 4-0 (2-0 TRC), Valley 1-4 (1-2 TRC)
