The Manchester Academy Girls Soccer team was off to a slow start this year after falling 8-0 to East Rankin Academy earlier this season. Last week however, Coach Jacob Iles said the Lady Mavericks put up a good fight against Indianola Academy on Wednesday Aug. 7 before falling 2-1.
"We gave up a couple of goals early and then kind of settled in and played some pretty good soccer," Iles said. "It was 2-1 at half time and we just kept the ball on their end for most of the second half, we just never could punch one in so we lost with that 2-1 score."
Iles said that practicing with the entire team has been a challenge since most of the girls are playing multiple sports, but they are making it work.
"We are learning on game days so we are learning on the fly," he said.
While the Manchester girls were outmatched by East Rankin, Iles felt that the game against Indianola served as a test to see how they would compete against other girls in their own league.
"Playing Indianola gave me confidence and hopefully gave the girls more belief in themselves that they can make it through the rest of the games this season and then to play-offs," he said.
Iles said that Sydney Porter scored the single goal in the game as a striker for the Lady Mavericks. Lanie Potter also stopped several score attempts from the Indianola girls as the team goalie.
"Thea Trammell has become one of our best defensive players this year," Iles said. "She was really our biggest presence in the back on defense against Indianola."
He added that the only senior on the team this year, Monica Morrison, is a valuable asset because she is able to play so many different positions.
"I think they competed very hard against Indianola,"Iles said. "We didn't get the result we wanted, but we got some much needed experience which we can learn from."
