By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Red-hot Washburn Rural soccer continued to roll Thursday night at McElroy Field, with the Junior Blues claiming a Class 6A regional championship with a 4-1 win over Centennial League rival Manhattan.
With Thursday's win Washburn Rural improved to 16-2-0 overall with its ninth straight victory.
Washburn Rural senior Kate Hinck (9) hoists the Class 6A regional trophy as the Junior Blues celebrate Thursday's 4-1 win over Manhattan. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural soccer poses for a team picture after Thursday's Class 6A 4-1 regional win over Manhattan. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"This is what we've been working for all season,'' said Rural senior captain Destiny Higgs, who had a pair of goals to lead the Junior Blues. "We know what we want and we're going to try our hardest to get it.''
Rural, 6A's top West seed, advanced to Monday's 6 p.m. state quarterfinal to host city rival Topeka High, a 3-1 winner over Wichita Northwest.
"We've worked hard all season to be here and get home field advantage and get the best possible draw,'' Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. "The girls have so far this week taken things real serious and Manhattan played with a lot of energy.
"I told their coach (Mike Sanchez) that over the last six weeks (since an 8-1 Rural win over the Indians) they've made a lot of improvement. They played really hard today and we had to match that.''
The Junior Blues never trailed after an own goal at the 35:02 mark of the opening half.
Higgs made it a 2-0 game with her first goal at the 22:15 mark of the first half off an assist from junior Dayne Shriver and Rural opened up a commanding 3-0 advantage with 7:45 left in the half on a goal from senior Zahra Friess off a pass from sophomore Emery Hall.
Manhattan (9-9-0) got on the scoreboard with 26:51 left in the match on a goal from sophomore Lauren Booe, but Washburn Rural pushed its lead back to three goals less than four minutes later when Higgs scored her second goal of the night off Shriver's second assist.
"The first half we definitely played with a lot of energy and you could tell we wanted to win the game,'' Higgs said. "The second half we slowed down a little bit and we kind of let them get to every single ball first, but we've got a lot of talented players and that's how we got the win.''
Monday's quarterfinal matchup with Topeka High (7-10-1) will be Rural's second straight postseason tilt against a Centennial League foe, with the Junior Blues taking a 3-1 regular-season league win over the Trojans.
If the Junior Blues are able to get past Topeka High they would also be at home for next Wednesday's semifinal and Hensyel feels good about how his team is playing entering its stretch run.
"At this point we just feel like if we're at our best we're just a hard team to beat so matter who stands in our way,'' Hensyel said.
WASHBURN RURAL 4, MANHATTAN 1
Manhattan (9-9-0) 0 1 -- 1
Washburn Rural (16-2-0) 3 1 -- 4
Manhattan -- Goal: Lauren Booe.
Washburn Rural -- Goals: Destiny Higgs 2, Zahra Friess, Own goal. Assists: Dayne Shriver 2, Emery Hall.
