NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Manchester women's soccer team was given no quarter and the Bluffton women left no doubt when the Beavers rolled to a 4-0 shutout on a cold Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. Bluffton notched its second Heartland Conference tournament berth in school history and first since 2011 when the visitors improved to 5-10-1 overall and 4-5 in the HCAC. It also marked the most conference victories for the Beavers since they went 5-3-1 in 2011.
Bluffton entered Wednesday needing to match Earlham in order to secure a tournament bid, but the Beavers took matters into their own hands as they did not allow a single shot while pelting the Manchester defense with 28 attempts, including 13 on frame! Earlham gave all it had, notching a 2-2 tie with #3 seed Anderson after falling behind 2-0 at the break.
Emma White (St. Marys/Memorial) put Bluffton on top in minute 26 when she used a feed from fellow senior Taylor Dye (Big Prairie/West Holmes) for what turned out to be the game winner. Sophomore Madison Ellerbrock (Leipsic/Miller City) made it 2-0 with just over two minutes to play in the opening stanza.
The visitors kept the heat on early in the second half, adding tallies by Rilynn Kaufman (Goshen, Ind./Bethany Christian) and Kelsie Gladieux (Northwood/Lake) as the Spartans never had a chance.
Sophomore Brielle Collier (Anna) and Marissa Blake (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby) split the goal manning duties right down the middle, but with no Spartan shots their shared shutout did not require any saves.
Nina McGinn (Marion/Harding) led the way with six shots. White was one attempt back with five, but she put four of those on frame. Katelyn Burden (Sidney) added four shots and all three attempts from Gladieux were between the pipes.
Manchester was called for 11 fouls, compared to seven for the Beavers. Bluffton forced all four corner kicks and the visitors finished with a decided 28-0 edge in shots.
Bluffton will open its second-ever Heartland Conference tournament with a trip to Anderson University on Saturday, Oct. 29. Kickoff is slated for noon at the home of the Ravens.
-BEAVERS-