Box Score NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – Battling through a 22-5 shots disadvantage, Manchester University took neighboring county non-conference rival Huntington University to the final minutes Wednesday, Sept. 17.
The Black and Gold, dipping to 2-4, nearly stopped their current four-match skid and the all-time series skein of HU (2-5) which stands at eight straight. Manchester University rallied from one-goal deficits twice before the Foresters' Ryan Pickup scored his second goal of the match from a pass by Marcos Salinas on the left side of the box and slipped it past freshman goalkeeper Jared Hallal (Indianapolis, Ind.) for the winner with less than three minutes left.
Both teams scored goals in the first 45 minutes. A rocket shot off the foot of sophomore forward Ola Ladapo (London, England) from 35 feet out found the upper right corner of the Foresters' goal in the 37th minute for a 1-1 tie. The match stayed that way until a frenetic final eight minutes. Pickup's first tally occurred in the 82nd minute, but the home side brought its crowd to their feet just over a minute later as freshman forward Travis Richardson (Elizabethtown, Ky.) took the rebound off a free kick attempt by freshman midfielder Colin Singer (Columbus, Ind.) and lofted it just under the crossbar and into the net. The two sides appeared headed to an extra session until Pickup's late winner.
Hallal and Ladapo both recorded top numbers for MU. Hallal's eight saves marked his second successive appearance with five-or-more, while Ladapo topped the overall shots list (two).
Manchester University takes to the road Saturday, Sept. 20, for a match at Eureka College of Illinois. Kickoff at EC's Traister Field is 3 p.m. Central Daylight Time.
