Women Fall To Manchester In Tough Loss

NORTH MANCHESTER, IND.- The Defiance College women's soccer team traveled to North Manchester, Ind. to take on Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game against Manchester (Ind.) University, but fell to the Spartans, 7-2.

Senior Katie Tilman (Miami, Fla./LaSalle) took the first shot for Defiance (2-10, 2-4 HCAC) in the first half just six minutes into play, finding the hands of the goalkeeper. Manchester (2-10, 2-4 HCAC) broke the silence with their first goal at the 23:23 mark, followed by their seonnd goal at the 26:04 mark, making the score 2-0. 

The Yellow Jackets answered shortly after with a goal by Tilman, her third goal of the season, during the 30th minute to cut the deficit to 2-1. 

Manchester responded with its third marker of the game at the 38:01 mark to extend the deficit back to a pair of goals, 3-1. That didn't stop the Jacket offense, as junior Kassie Memmer (Bowling Green) scored a little more than four minutes later off of a pass by freshman Kat Wicher (Toledo/Whitmer), bringing the contest to a 3-2 game. 

The two teams traded shots on goal in the final minutes of the opening period, but neither team added any more goals before the clock ran out, keeping the score at 3-2 heading into the intermission. 

In the second half, the Manchester offense took control beginning with a pair of early goals at the 46:51 and 52:56 minute marks to extend the margin to 5-2.  The Spartans tacked on two more scores during the 66th and 82nd minutes to round out the scoring and boast a 7-2 advantage.

The Jacket offense was carried by Memmer and Tilman in the second half as they attacked the net in attempts to narrow the gap, but could not produce a goal despite their efforts. Memmer took four shots in the second half of play, two being on goal. Tilman took the other two shots for the Jackets in the seonnd half, one on goal. But the second half belonged to Manchester as the Spartans cruised to the 7-2 victory.

Freshman Madi Bowman (Eaton) played the entire game at goalkeeper for DC. She recorded eight saves and allowed seven goals against. 

The Yellow Jackets will host Hanover (Ind.) College on Saturday (Oct. 22) in a doubleheader with the men's soccer team on senior day. The women will get the day started at 1 p.m., followed by the men against the Panthers at 3:30 p.m.