FRANKLIN, Ind. - The Manchester men's soccer team faced the Grizzlies of Franklin College in conference play on Wednesday, October 4. The Spartans took Wednesday night's match by a final score of 5-3. 

Harley Kruschwitz (North Manchester, Ind., Manchester) led the Black and Gold, netting his fifth collegiate career hat trick and third hat trick this season during Wednesday night's contest. The scoring got started in less than two minutes with the Spartans taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by Kruschwitz, assisted by Cory Mitchell (Maitland, Fla., Winter Park).

Theo Sasso would score two of Franklin's three goals in the 14th and 27th minutes of Wednesday's contest. Another Grizzly would score in the 32nd minute to put Franklin up 3-1. Manchester was not done as Kruschwitz again found the back of the net in the 40th minute to bring the Spartans within 1 before halftime. 

Mitchell scored his eighth goal of the season in the 61st minute. Noah Black (Swayzee, Ind., Mississinewa) assisted on Mitchell's goal. Mitchell would pick up his third and fourth assists of the night during Maruwe Exauce's (Indianapolis, Ind., North Central) goal in the 65th minute and Kruschwitz's third goal in the 88th minute to secure the 5-3 victory.
 
As a team, Manchester narrowly outshot Franklin 17-11 and held a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks. Kruschwitz tallied 10 shots, six of which landed on goal. Mitchell added two shots on goal, while four other Spartans had one shot on the night.

With the win, Manchester improved to 6-0-5, 2-0-1 in conference play. Franklin fell to 3-6-2, 2-1-0 HCAC with the loss. 

Up next, the Spartans will travel to Hanover College to play the Panthers on Saturday, October 7. Match time is set for 3:30 p.m.