Bend but do not break.

That was the how the Manteca girls soccer team played Monday night. The Buffaloes were outshot 18-9 by visiting Ripon, but eked out a 1-0 non-league win at Guss Schmiedt Field.

Manteca goalie Haylie Brasil tallied seven saves in the first half and eight in the second.

“The ball got through a few times and that scared me,” Brasil said.

Brasil, a junior, played in the field as a sophomore and is transitioning to life in the net.

“This year, we needed a goalie, and she had goalie experience when she was younger and she stepped up right away and told me she would do it,” Buffaloes coach Justin Coenenberg said. “She is getting better and better every single day, along with getting more confident every day. We are pretty happy with her progress right now.

“We have a lot of new pieces this year. We have tons of new girls who were definitely nervous before the game, very jittery, and even at halftime they were still nervous. We have a lot of games scheduled this year, and I did that on purpose knowing we would be pretty young and they need that game experience. We will go back to the locker room and we will talk, fix things and tweak things. I think we will be all right.”

Two minutes into the second half, Cami Silva took a shot for the Buffaloes, and Olivia Maragos was there for Ripon (3-1) to knock it down. Kaley Crawford planted the rebound into the net to give Manteca (1-0) a 1-0 lead that would hold up for the rest of the game.

“Cami (Silva) took the shot and I got the rebound,” Crawford said. “And then I went for the corner.”

The Buffaloes may have won, but it was Indians who was on the attack most of the night.

“Our girls played a heck of a game tonight,” Ripon coach Bryce Perkins said. We out-shot them 18 to nine, and I think we won the majority of the 50-50 balls. It just didn’t bounce our way tonight.”

Tonight at 6:15, the Buffaloes host West of Tracy, while at 6 the Indians travel to Modesto to face Gregori.

Junior varsity

Ripon 5, Manteca 0

Emily Paxton scored two goals for the Indians.

Jordan Meeuwse, Grace Sesser and Rylee Agbayani each had a goal for Ripon while Starla Skiles had two assists, Maddy Reedy one and Gia Grewal one. Amelia Carl tallied three saves and Kylie Wiggins one.