By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
Washburn Rural and Manhattan were tied for the first 44 minutes of Thursday night's Centennial League girls soccer showdown, but the Lady Blues began to use their heads to turn the game around, scoring three goals in a 23-minute stretch, all coming on headers, to take a 3-0 win at McElroy Field.
Washburn Rural senior Addi Broxterman (middle) celebrates one of her two goals with teammates in Thursday's 3-0 Centennial League shutout over Manhattan. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Brooklyn DeLeye celebrates a goal in Thursday's 3-0 win over Manhattan. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Washbun Rural senior goalkeeper Hailey Beck makes a save in Wednesday's 3-0 win over Manhattan. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
“This is a big game for both teams every year, it’s always a battle for the league, usually both teams are in the final four so this is always a good middle-of-the-season barometer,'' said Washburn Rural coach Brian Hensyel. "I thought the game was pretty even to be honest with you.
“The difference was our ability to box out and finish plays off … you don’t see three header goals in a game very often.”
The win was the fourth in a row for the Lady Blues, all coming in shutout fashion. Six of the seven games for Washburn Rural, now 6-1 overall, 2-0 in the league, have ended with the opponent unable to find the back of the net.
“We tell them with our defense, if we kind of build a wall around the box and don’t let anybody in the box our keeper, Hailey Beck, is going to save almost everything, which you saw a few times tonight,” Hensyel said. “The defense has been phenomenal.”
The defensive effort was important to help an offense that didn’t create its usual number of opportunities early. For Hensyel, energy was key to helping wake up an offense that has now scored 11 goals in the past two games.
“We’ve struggled a little bit on offense, but it's starting to come around a little bit, seeing the ball go into the back of the net a little more,” Hensyel said. “The energy was good, we want to play with energy and we did that tonight. If we hadn't we would have got beat because I thought Manhattan was pretty good.”
The scoreless match was broken up with 1:03 left in the first half as senior Addi Broxterman converted on a corner kick set up from junior Hayley Legg to make it 1-0 at half.
“Getting that goal before half changed the complexion of the game a little bit because I thought they were probably the better team the first half. They really frustrated us because we couldn’t get anything going,” Hensyel said.
"Then you come out and get another quick one and it went from what felt like a really even game and all of a sudden we were up 2-0. so I just love the energy after the first goal to kinda get the second and third.”
Under 10 minutes into the second half senior Mackinly Rohn lofted a free kick ball into the box which was knocked in by senior Brooklyn DeLeye, outjumping everybody for the goal.
Rohn created another scoring opportunity 10 minutes later putting another ball into the box which Broxterman netted for her second goal of the night.
Beck finished the match with a solo shutout as Manhattan fell to 2-3-1, 1-1.
Washburn Rural has a week off before heading across town to take on Hayden on Friday, April 14.
WASHBURN RURAL 3, MANHATTAN 0
Manhattan (2-3-1, 1-1) 0 0 – 0
Washburn Rural (6-1, 2-0) 1 2 – 0
Washburn Rural – Goals: Broxterman 2, DeLeye. Assists: Rohn 2, Legg. Shutout: Beck
