The Varsity boys soccer team lost to Washburn Rural 5-1 at home on Thursday night, making their record 4-1-3 going into the match against Junction City today. 

The boys team and Rural are considered rivals in the Centennial League, with Washburn taking first for the past 26 years and Manhattan usually coming in second. The team hasn’t beaten Washburn since 2013, including 2018, the season that they took second at State, so hopes weren’t high going into the match.

“We went into it like any other game,” head coach Mike Sanchez said. “Washburn Rural’s a hard team, they kind of force you to play their game, one little mistake and the ball’s all the way on the other side of the field so we just had to play our hardest.”

The team conceded the lead at the beginning of the first half, but tied it up in the 20th minute with a goal from senior Grant Snowden. Despite Manhattan fighting through the rest of the match and maintaining a hold on some of the possession, Washburn scored twice more before the half was over. 

“[At half time Sanchez] told us to just keep playing,” senior Alex Boyle said.

The second half didn’t go much better for the boys, they conceded two more goals to go down 5-1. Right before the whistle, Boyle took a shot from the 30-yard line that found the back of Rural’s net, but it was deemed to be after the match ended and wasn’t counted.

“It would’ve been awesome to score against Rural,” Boyle said. “But they didn’t count it.”

Manhattan plays Junction City away today.