The Manhattan High Lady Indians played Emporia on Tuesday and beat them 6-1. This was a more favorable outcome compared to the loss to Washburn last week. After the Washburn Rural game, the Indians were supposed to play Bishop Carol on Saturday, but that game was cancelled due to weather so the team had to switch their mentality straight to playing Emporia.

“The loss also gave us motivation,” senior Kendra Geisbrecht said. “We played with a lot of intensity, which is what we need in the future, so we are just learning from the loss and trying to play with the same intensity in our other games.”

The Lady Indians dominated the game from the beginning, ending the half on top leading 3 to 1. They kept playing strong throughout the rest of the game and won.

Winning a game like that helped the Indians gain the confidence they needed to face their next two games of the week.

“It solidifies that we know who we are and how we play,” Geisbrecht said. “[It] helps us move on to other games to come out stronger.”

The girls went on to beat Seaman 4-0 before facing their third opponent of the week: Blue Valley Stilwell.

The Indians haven’t beat Stilwell in the last seven years so going into the game after two straight wins was good for the Lady Indians and their confidence.

“After winning those two games you could really tell our team was heading in the right direction and that we all were on the same page,” senior Cailey Perkins said. “I knew that this Blue Valley team was going to be strong, organized, and talented so my mindset was to just play as hard as I can for my team and look to connect with my teammates.”

And they did just that, the Lady Indians beat Blue Valley Stilwell 3-1. They used their connection with each other to come out on top. Perkins ended the game having scored all three of Manhattan’s goals, while she was the one who actually scored the goals she has her teammates to thank for the ability to score those goals.

“Two of my goals were from amazing balls from [senior] Sadie Samenus and [junior] Izzie Williams passed to me. My other goal was from a penalty kick that Whitney Wilson was able to draw,” Perkins  said. ”Without them those goals would not have been possible.”

With two of Perkins three goals coming early Blue Valley wasn’t able to gain enough momentum to come back even after they scored their single goal for the game.

“I think it made the team a little nervous because Blue Valley could’ve gained momentum but we were able to bounce back and score another goal,” Perkins said.

This left Manhattan with their third win of the week and a big boost preparing them to take on the rest of the season.