On Thursday, Sept. 26, the Manheim Township varsity boys soccer team hosted the Penn Manor Comets on Journey Field for a second time this season. The Blue Streaks sealed the victory in the second overtime on a goal by Jack Bowman and won 4-3.

Penn Manor beat Township 2-1 two weeks ago. The Blue Streaks improved to 5-7 on the season while the Comets fell to 7-2.

The first goal of the game was scored by Bowman, team co-captain and forward, with an assist by forward Zeke Eisenberg. Bowman added his second goal of the game with 14 seconds left in the first half. Township’s Carter Collier broke the tie in the second half, giving Township a 3-2 lead. However, with seven minutes left in the game, the Comets scored one more goal, sending the game into overtime. After a scoreless first overtime, Bowman’s final shot with nine minutes left in the second half not only made it a hat trick for him, but also secured a victory for his team with the final score of 4-3.

After winning the game, Bowman described the celebratory reaction the team felt after their loss to the Comets two weeks ago.

“[The] win created momentum that the team needed for the rest of the season,” said Bowman.

Co-Captain and midfielder Gaven Emig echoed a similar feeling. “Since the beginning of the season, I feel we have struggled to find our momentum as a team, but I am hopeful this win will serve as a catalyst and motivate us to continue working hard for our upcoming games,” he said.

As team captain, Bowman said that the way he motivates his team is mainly positive communication, which works well with a team who are all “super good kids who all love to play the game.”

In regards to the next steps for the team after this victory, Emig said that “with our current position, I think the best option for moving forward is to keep our focus on the game that’s right in front of us rather than focusing too far into the future.”

He also said that on top of working together as a team, sharpening individual skills is important, and it is necessary to “keep working off of each other’s strengths and cover for each other’s weaknesses. Each game allows us to see the ways we could have been better and work towards improving.”

The Blue Streaks also beat Exeter Township on Saturday, Sept. 28 with a final score of 2-1. The Blue Streaks now occupy fourth in the Lancaster-Lebanon League (LL) with a record of 6-7.

The final home regular season games for MT are Oct. 4 against J.P. McCaskey at 4 p.m. and Oct. 7 against Central York at 7 p.m.