Manteca and Sierra came into Wednesday night’s showdown at Guss Schmidt Field in need of a win to keep pace with undefeated Oakdale, which sits at the top of the Valley Oak League standings with half of the league schedule left to play.

Both teams likely left the field thinking they could have gotten more out of a 1-1 draw after chippy-at-times soccer that so often define cross-town rivalries with a lot on the line.

“We knew coming in how good of a team they are,” Sierra head coach Manuel Pires said. “Obviously, coming in, knowing where we are in the standings, we needed a better result, and with a few different bounces tonight, we could have gotten it.”

The feeling was mutual from opposing coach Justin Coenenberg, who came into the contest just one win away from 300 in his career as the girls soccer head coach at Manteca.

“The first half was probably about as bad as we have played all season long,” he said. “We didn’t have enough of the ball, and when we did have it, we settled for some shots that we can make, but that are most times out of our range.”

The first 10 minutes of the match played in the midfield with both teams probing, trying to get the ball into space for runners. Both defensive units stood strong, Manteca (4-0-2 VOL, 14-3-2 overall) led by defenders Brooklyn Cornish and Miah Martinez, limited chances. Sierra’s duo of Mikaela Delgado and Natalie Ruvalcaba were equally up for the task for the visitors.

The breakthrough came 13 minutes into the contest, as Sierra (4-2-1, 16-4-1) won a free kick outside the box. The kick was missed, but the ensuing goal kick by Manteca keeper Tina Macomber was stolen by senior midfielder Haley Gama, who fired a shot from outside the box over the head of Macomber to put Sierra up 1-0.

“That was a great goal,” Pires said. “A heads-up play. She found the ball at her feet and instinctually put it where the keeper could not get it.”

The goal from Sierra seemed to light a spark in the offense of its hosts, as Manteca found itself with more of the ball in more space for the remainder of the first half. The Buffaloes’ best chance came after freshman Bianca Esparza made a great through pass to Paisley Coenenberg. The one-on-one chance was cut off by Sierra goalkeeper Ava Bonilla, who beat Coenenberg to the ball just inside the box.

Both teams finished with three shots on goal in the first half, as they went into the intermission with Sierra leading 1-0 and just 40 minutes from picking up a huge win.

Manteca would come out in the second half and continue to have most of the ball, with junior midfielders Makayla Spencer and Kailee Jackson getting into dangerous spaces, but unable to connect on the final pass.

Manteca’s much-deserved breakthrough would come with 20 minutes left, after Spencer was fouled just outside the box on the right side. Jackson put a great cross on the free kick into the box that bounced off of a Sierra head directly to the feet of junior Layla Flannigan, who slotted home the volley by Macomber to level the score.

“That was a great goal on a great opportunity created,” Coenenberg said. “It’s not easy to finish that with the ball popping up like that, but Layla put a great strike on it and got us back into the match.”

The last 20 minutes played out with just a few chances on either side, the best coming with less than two minutes remaining when senior midfielder Maitland Kohoutek launched a free kick into a dangerous area in the box. Sierra was unable to get a head on it, as the ball sailed wide of the goal past the watch of Macomber. The final whistle would blow just a few seconds later finalizing the draw.

Manteca will get another shot to pull even closer to Oakdale Friday night as the Mustangs travel to Guss Schmiedt Field.

“We’ll get back at it tomorrow work on some set pieces that can give us some good looks on Friday,” Coenenberg said. “But the focus will be getting our legs back under us and getting ready for a really good team coming in here.”

Sierra will get its own shot at Oakdale on Monday at Daniel Teicheira Memorial Stadium.

“We’re a little banged up and could use the time to get healthy,” Pires said. “But we’ll need to be better attacking to beat Oakdale.”