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Manteca reaches Buff Cup title match
Buff Cup
Manteca midfielder Makayla Spencer presses Atwater defender Aleena Lepe Arroyo. - photo by JONAMAR JACINTO/The Bulletin

Manteca had no problem creating scoring chances in the first two games of its annual Buff Cup.

The Buffaloes totaled 64 shot attempts Friday at Woodward Park, shutting out Los Banos, 2-0, and Atwater, 9-0, in pool play. They’ll tangle with Edison in the championship today at 1 p.m.

“Overall, I thought we moved the ball around very well,” Manteca coach Justin Coenenberg said. “We just really struggled to finish in the first game, but the opportunities were there, so that’s always good to see. In the second game, we were finally able to put the ball in the back of the net.”

Manteca (7-1) had five different goal scorers.

Third-year midfielder Makayla Spencer led the way with three goals, all against Atwater (1-2-1), which trailed 3-0 in the ninth minute after a penalty-kick conversion by freshman Bianca Esparza. Spencer already had two of her goals at that point, and she secured her hat trick with a long-distance banger 3 minutes into the second half.

Freshman Natalia Ramirez had a second-half brace. Jazmine Aguilar and Paisley Coenenberg both scored one in each game. Kailee Jackson totaled four assists, and Jaylah Benton had two.

Atwater contributed to Manteca’s onslaught with an own goal off of a corner-kick cross from Jackson.

“One of the good things about us this year so far is the scoring is coming from a lot of different players,” coach Coenenberg said.

Atwater earlier edged Los Banos (2-4) to finish as runner-up in the green pool. The Falcons face Lodi in the third-place game starting at 11 a.m. Los Banos and Lathrop (2-4) squares off with Los Banos for fifth place also at 11.