The East Union Lancers were seemingly on their way to keeping their season-long winning streak alive, but the Manteca High soccer frosh-soph squad had other plans, putting together a flawless second half for a come-from-behind 3-2 at Dino Cunial Field.
East Union built a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead behind two first half goals from Colin Scholl and Michael Barbosa, but the Buffaloes came back strong. Mounting a come back that would force east Union to deal with its first loss and catapult Manteca to the top of the standings with its seventh consecutive league win.
Manteca improved to 7-0 in Valley Oak League play and 11-0 overall, solidifying the squad as the team to beat down the stretch for the VOL title. Manteca fought off the 2-0 deficit and clawed back into the game with a brilliant second half effort on defense and goals by Charlton Shankar, Oral Nunis and Niko Gonzalez to pull the team from the brink of demise. Cesar Reyes contributed on two of the goals with assists.
“We had a slow start,” Manteca head coach Geno Geerlof said. “But we had a strong second half. We train to play 80 minutes a game and it showed.”
The Buffaloes will be back on their home field when they take on the Ceres Buffaloes Oct. 6 at Manteca High. East Union will be heading east to Sonora to battle the Wildcats.
James Greer, Jonathan Velazquez, Thomas Trzcinski and Mike Leland all combined for the solid performance, while the Sierra girls side did not fill a full team, but got a fourth place overall finish out of Nicole England to pace the squad.
The Timberwolves will be looking for another strong meet when the VOL links up for their second round of action at Woodward Reservoir Oct. 14.
East Union built a comfortable 2-0 halftime lead behind two first half goals from Colin Scholl and Michael Barbosa, but the Buffaloes came back strong. Mounting a come back that would force east Union to deal with its first loss and catapult Manteca to the top of the standings with its seventh consecutive league win.
Manteca improved to 7-0 in Valley Oak League play and 11-0 overall, solidifying the squad as the team to beat down the stretch for the VOL title. Manteca fought off the 2-0 deficit and clawed back into the game with a brilliant second half effort on defense and goals by Charlton Shankar, Oral Nunis and Niko Gonzalez to pull the team from the brink of demise. Cesar Reyes contributed on two of the goals with assists.
“We had a slow start,” Manteca head coach Geno Geerlof said. “But we had a strong second half. We train to play 80 minutes a game and it showed.”
The Buffaloes will be back on their home field when they take on the Ceres Buffaloes Oct. 6 at Manteca High. East Union will be heading east to Sonora to battle the Wildcats.
CROSS COUNTRY
The Sierra Timberwolves had little trouble pushing themselves to the head of the pack in the first Valley Oak League Meet in Frogtown yesterday. Sierra raced off with a perfect 8-0 record in the boys division, with Manteca High posing the nearest threat in a 25-34 loss. Sierra’s Johnny Payan turned in a second-place overall finish, closing out the race in 12:30 minutes.James Greer, Jonathan Velazquez, Thomas Trzcinski and Mike Leland all combined for the solid performance, while the Sierra girls side did not fill a full team, but got a fourth place overall finish out of Nicole England to pace the squad.
The Timberwolves will be looking for another strong meet when the VOL links up for their second round of action at Woodward Reservoir Oct. 14.
