Box Score NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – In a back-and-forth affair in wet, windy and cool conditions at Manchester University's Spartan Soccer Field Saturday, Oct. 3, Manchester University and Transylvania University played a donnybrook to open the 2015 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference campaign.
Twice, the visiting Pioneers (2-5-2, 0-0-1 HCAC) held one-goal leads on the host Spartans. However, in each case, Coach Andy Stout's club proved resilient. Freshman midfielder/forward Maranda Birmingham (Kouts, Ind.) answered TU's first score in the 12th minute, taking a pass from sophomore midfielder Courtney Hersick (Plymouth, Ind.) to tally her second goal of the season in the 57th minute for a 1-1 tie. After the Pioneers regained the upper hand at 2-1 in the 70th minute, senior forward Brandy Crouse (Cleves, Ohio) joined Birmingham atop the Spartans' goal chart with her second of the year in the 77th minute with Hersick tallying her second assist of the match and her fourth and fifth of the season for a level 2-2 scoreboard.
Both squads had opportunities to break up the draw, but 33 minutes later, the match at SSF ended with a similar score after completing the full 90 minutes of regulation and a pair of 10-minute overtimes. Despite being out-shot 43-20 by the visiting side, MU freshman goalkeeper Caroline Smith (Mason, Ohio) kept her teammates even to the end with 12 saves.
Manchester University continues its conference slate Wednesday, Oct. 7, at Defiance College of Ohio. Kickoff is 4 p.m.
NOTES: Crouse topped the shot chart with eight attempts, while Birmingham and Hersick followed with four and three, respectively … Smith collected 10-or-more saves for the second time in her last three appearances.
