Manistee boys’ soccer survives wild finish, upends Shelby, 3-2

SHELBY – The final 15 minutes of the Manistee boys’ soccer 3-2 win over Shelby on Wednesday could only be encapsulated by one word – chaotic.

Possession shifted between both teams for a majority of the game’s first half, with each finding quality looks on net. The Mariners were the first ones to score, however, taking advantage of a well-placed corner kick that found its way past Shelby keeper Ismael Valdez after pinballing off several bodies.

Manistee rode that momentum through the remaining 18 minutes in the first half to own a 1-0 lead at the break.

Will Somsel tallied the Mariners’ goal, on an assist from Luke Smith.

The Mariners trailed, 2-1, in the second half before pushing through for the win, their second straight after a pair of ties.

“You know, we knew Shelby was going to be tough,” Manistee coach Brandon Prince said. “They’ve got a great program, defensively strong. We knew we were going to have to find our moments of play, and going in with that the kids played that way. To get down like that the way they did with only so much time left, they never lost their composure.

“They stayed the course, and they knew the clock was on their side and if you gave them enough time, they were going to put some in.”

Shelby coach Jairo Coronado saw some positives from his team to start, but was left hoping for more energy.

“In the first half, we were playing OK, but we weren’t where we wanted to be,” Coronado said. “We were right there, but it wasn’t anywhere close to the level we wanted to be at. At half, we talked about it and decided to step it up. We wanted to play our game.”

The intensity level definitely shifted in the game’s final 40 minutes. Shelby, desperate for its first goal of the night, started playing as a unit. The result was several well-placed balls that put their top strikers in position to score.

Those passes finally ended with the ball in the back of the net when a shot by Shelby’s Alan Arreola rebounded off the keeper. Trey Gauthier swooped in and cleaned it up, knotting things up with 14:38 left to play.

An almost palpable sigh of relief came over the Tigers’ sideline. No longer playing from behind, the Tigers were free to play whatever game they wanted. That relief quickly turned into excitement just seven minutes later.

Once again, Gauthier took off toward the net, weaving between Manistee defenders. Shelby’s Ignacio Ortiz found Gauthier in stride on a through pass, and after making one Mariner miss, Gauthier netted his second of the evening.

But the Mariners answered with two more goals, the first an unassisted goal from Luke Senters and Jacob Scharp notched the game-winner from Somsel.

“Trey made very good runs to the open spaces and we were able to find him,” Coronado said. “He was able to capitalize on two of those opportunities, which is great for him because he’s still young. He has a lot to learn, but it was a great game for him individually.

Celebrations on Shelby’s sideline were a bit premature however, as Manistee wasn’t ready to let the game slip away that easily.

Luke Senters scored the equalizer for the Mariners, unassisted, as the clock slipped under five minutes left in regulation.

Manistee quickly snagged the momentum and ran with it. With just under a minute remaining, the Mariners were awarded a free kick from just inside the midfield line after Shelby’s Gauthier received a yellow card.

Jacob Scharp lined up for the free kick, lofting a high shot that Somsel leaped to head, but it skittered off his back, awarding him with an assist on the winning goal.

“That was just a beautiful free kick that was in the perfect spot,” Coronado said. “They were able to get a hold of that and we’ll keep working on those, but there was nothing that our guys could have done to stop it.”

Grayson Prince finished with five saves in goal for the Mariners.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” Coach Prince added. “They believed in themselves and the composure was huge. I think that shows the experience of those older players and the moments they’ve been in.

“It’s good to see them do that early in the season.”

For Shelby (5-2-2), the game sinks their hopes of going undefeated inside the West Michigan Conference. The Tigers now trail Ludington, which is still unbeaten in league play.

Manistee is now 5-0-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference and will host Kingsley at 6 p.m. on Friday. Shelby will jump back into the WMC waters next Wednesday when it travels to Oakridge to take on the Eagles.