All Manhattan needed was one more win.

The Manhattan High soccer team competed in the Titan Classic, a competition it has never won before, playing and winning two matches which would put them in the final of the tournament. Their opponent in the final was the nation’s seventh-ranked team, Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Manhattan thrived in their first two matches winning their first against Wichita Northwest by a score of 5-0.  

Junior Angel Fraire scored in the game as well as seniors Austin French and Kirkland Lambert.

“The team played really well in that game,” Fraire said.

Next up was Kappan High School in the semis.

The Indians held on for a comfortable win against Kappan High by a score of 4-2. Senior Gardner Blanck drew two goals and sophomore Modou Faburay drew one to push Manhattan past Kappan High.

A game away from making history, Manhattan traveled once again to Wichita on Sept. 12 to play against the highly-rated Saint Thomas team.

Goalkeeper Ryan Goralczyk returned from injury just in time for the final game in the competition.  

The game kicked off to bad start for Manhattan as Aquinas scored twice in the first half to gain the halftime lead.

“The refs were against us the entire game,” Fraire said.

MHS could not recover from the start and lost, 2-0.

“We had our chances and we just didn’t capitalize,” Lambert said.

He started at forward in all three games in the tournament.

“I think were even with that team, just a couple of balls didn’t go our way. After going against a team like Saint Thomas who was big and physical and we matched that so I’m definitely excited to get into Centennial league play now,” Lambert said.

Manhattan will look back to bounce back in their match today as they travel once again to play Shawnee Heights High in their home stadium. Their next game at Bishop Stadium will be against Washburn Rural on Thursday, September 24.