MEN’S SOCCER

The Forester men’s soccer team posted its first tie of the year, a 0-0 decision after two overtime periods, Wednesday afternoon against Manchester University at the Spartan Soccer Complex.

While today’s contest marks the first stalemate of the season, it’s nothing new when playing the Spartans. OT has also become the norm for this friendly neighborhood rivalry. This group of HU seniors is 4-for-4 in overtime matches against the Spartans with three of those contests ending in ties after two extra periods – the exception coming last year when the game tilted in favor of the Foresters 2-1 in just one overtime.

While Manchester has recorded three deadlocks with Huntington in recent years, it’s been over a decade since they’ve enjoyed a win against their neighbor to the southeast. Since 2008, HU boasts a 7-0-3 record over the Spartans.

The afternoon proved frustrating for HU as they seemingly outplayed their hosts but couldn’t convert that to a dub. Between the two teams, the first half saw just six shots taken but after that, the visitors became the aggressors. The Foresters outshot the Spartans 12-6 the rest of the way but the more glaring statistic was the 17 corner kicks Huntington posted to MU’s five.

“Today’s result was true to form against Manchester,” said Coach Lawson. “They’re a solid team, hard-working and very organized.”

“Although we had the lion’s share of possession, we found it very difficult to break them down and ultimately we lacked that final piece of quality to put one in the back of the net. It’s disappointing that we weren’t able to come up with the win but defensively we were solid. We’ll be back at it on Saturday and I’m trusting the boys will be hungry and motivated.”

Gabe Greenfield picked up his second straight clean sheet, his third of the season. The sophomore keeper finished with five saves.

The Foresters (5-2-1) wrap up non-conference action on Saturday at Trine. First up in league play is a 4:00 p.m. date on Wednesday with #24 Grace at King Stadium.