The Manhattan Indians Varsity Girls Soccer team is 1-1-1 after hosting three games at Bishop Stadium in five days last week.

After ending the season opener in a tie and winning the second game of the week, the Indians lost their most recent game 2-0 against an always-tough Blue Valley West team on Saturday.

“They scored in the first half right before halftime and then they scored in the second half, so we played well,” head coach Mike Sanchez said. “We didn’t have as many opportunities as we would have hoped but Blue Valley West is always a really good team.”

The loss came after Manhattan looked really good against Junction City on Thursday, smoking the Blue Jays 10-0 with the mercy ruling cutting the game short.

“I think the girls just came out pretty good. They were motivated. We usually beat Junction City,” Sanchez said. “We tried different things and got players in different positions. It was a good opportunity for a lot of players.”

The tie in the season opener against the Seaman Vikings 1-1 on March 19 was hard-fought, following double overtime. The game started with an early goal from senior Emery Ruliffson on a high flying kick that sailed over the Viking’s goalkeeper’s head making the score 1-0 with more than 30 minutes still remaining in the first half. However, it didn’t take long for the Vikings to respond as they found the net with some great footwork tying the game 1-1 nearly halfway through the first half. From there, the match became a defensive battle. Both teams tested each other’s limits, especially defensive position players near the goal, who played lights out, preventing goals that could give the other team the lead. Once the game went into overtime, whichever team scored the first goal would win the entire match. The score remained 1-1 at the end of the 10-minute first overtime. The game then shifted to a second — and final — overtime, where nobody scored, ending the season opener in a draw.

Players of varying ages and experience levels, including four freshmen, made it into the game for MHS, as coaches are still assessing their players.

“It was really exciting for me, especially as a freshman on Varsity, and I feel like even when our team not having a lot of practices all together did pretty well for our first game back,” striker Lauren Booe, freshman, said.

Coaches were encouraged by the girl’s determination against a fairly tough opponent.

“I’m really proud of the girls, I mean that goalie in the second half and later, she did a really good job,” coach Sanchez said. “It’s kind of hard to beat her height, you know, so we had to try to get in the box and take shots low, but we’ll work on it.”

Following spring break, the Indians did what they could with limited practice time together, an essential part of building a connected team.

“Today I think it’s definitely our first game. You can tell that we have some raw players out there on the field. And we have some young girls coming in and I think it’s just, we played well as a team for what we had,” midfielder Emery Ruliffson, senior, said.

Despite not coming away from their first game with a victory, the team has high hopes for the rest of the season.

“A goal for us is always to make it back to 6A State,” Sanchez said. “I mean we’ve been there three times, so we want to get there a fourth time. So yeah, that’s just the same goal we have year, year in and year out.”

The soccer team traveled to Olathe North yesterday, and their next matchup will be on April 1 against Lawrence Free State. Sanchez believes the team is ready to keep the season moving.

“I think they feel good,”  he said. “They had Sunday off, they’ll have one game this week [Tuesday]. And then will have the rest of the time to train and it’s a good break that we will need, so I think they feel good.”