'I love playing with my teammates': Senior-laden Manchester girls soccer ready for tournament
Manchester High School girls soccer coach Eddie Kissner is relaxed most nights on the sidelines this season.
Having 10 seniors and one junior in the starting lineup with extensive postseason experience can do that for a coach, as Manchester navigates towards potentially its second undefeated regular season in three years.
Northwestern is all that stands in the way of a 17-0-0 regular season for Manchester. The Panthers host the Huskies at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Manchester has a record of 70-5-0 during the past four seasons, outscoring opponents 484-42.
"I am very at ease on the sidelines because the girls know what they are doing on the field," Kissner said with a smile Monday after Manchester won 3-0 at Stow. "They have played together since they were very little. They have been together as a solid group for a very long time. This year, there is a calmness and ease that we feel. This is our sixth shutout in a row."
Prior to Monday, Manchester blanked Wadsworth 4-0, Northwest 8-0, Triway 9-0, Fairless 9-0 and CVCA 1-0.
Manchester is led in scoring by seniors Katie Norris, Lauren Gunsett and Gina Tipton for the second season in a row. Norris, Gunsett and Tipton guided Manchester to a Division III state semifinal appearance last season.
Norris, Gunsett, Tipton, goalkeeper Madi Cox, defenders Emily Allman and Kennedy Boal, and midfielder Grace Soles give Manchester seven four-year starters. Norris has committed to play soccer at Walsh University.
Led by those seven, Manchester went 14-2 in 2020, 19-1 in 2021 and 21-2 in 2022 before this year's 16-0 start.
"We have been playing together since we were 4 years old," said Norris, a forward with 43 goals and 17 assists this season.
"We played club together. This is something that I feel like no other team has. Even when we were freshmen, we were freshmen playing together on the varsity team. It wasn't freshmen with several sophomores, juniors and seniors. We built the chemistry from when we started playing together and I think that is a big advantage we have against other teams."
Allman, Boal and Soles are captains.
"I love playing with my teammates," Soles said. "We have played together so long I feel like we trust each other, especially to know what to say when someone makes a mistake. We can rely on each other on and off the field."
Gunsett has 23 goals and 11 assists this season.
Tipton has 14 goals and 12 assists this season.
"As much credit as we give to Katie, Lauren and Gina for scoring the goals, our backline is one of the best in the state," Kissner said.
Manchester's starters in the back are the same as last year, Allman, Boal, and seniors Carrie Clark and Myah Schaber.
"Through the season, we have built really well as a team connecting our defense through midfield to forward," Allman said. "We have built really well passing together. ... We are really comfortable with each other. We know where and how we want to play the ball to each other because we have played together for so long."
The starters in the midfield are once again Gunsett, Tipton, Soles, senior Rowan Olechnowicz and junior Ellah Craddock.
"All of our have expectations have been met so far," Gunsett said. "We are 16-0 now and we wanted this to happen. We came into the season hoping this would happen and playing our hardest so that this would happen."
Senior Jaydyn McKinney, a state champion wrestler, brings versatility to the pitch as a midfielder or goalkeeper. Juniors Marissa Gehm and Ida Hagemann and senior Karsen Movsesian are also key reserves.
"We know that the competition is definitely wanting to come at us this year because of last year," Boal said. "We just bring the same energy to every game. We all know how to play with each other."
Manchester's non-league wins are over Berlin Hiland (4-0), Poland (5-0), Clear Fork (4-3), Norwayne (6-0), Wadsworth and Stow.
"We were down 3-1 at Clear Fork," Gunsett said. "We all pulled together as a team during the second half after they scored their third goal. We didn't have that halftime talk of like 'We need to pick it up.' We just automatically knew in our heads that we need to get together and we came back with 16 minutes left and won 4-3."
Gunsett and Norris both scored two goals in the victory over Clear Fork.
"[Monday] night was a very business-like win for us," Kissner said after Gunsett scored twice and Norris netted one goal against Stow.
"We had someone that put some pressure on us, especially in the back. We overcame that once we settled the game down a little bit, started to play through our midfield and we were able to create some chances. That was good for us. We needed a challenge like this on our schedule. I am so glad we scheduled Stow.
"This is a very tight-knit group. The girls never lose their composure and they play very solid. We have improved as we have gone on this season."
Said Tipton: "This is definitely a fun season. We all have been working really hard and want to go far in the tournament. We are connecting better with each other as we play against harder teams. That is helping us get better as we continue the season."
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Manchester High School girls soccer seeks unbeaten regular season
