ARGOS - Since the beginning of the season, the LaVille girls soccer team has talked about helping each other, communicating, and playing good team defense. That team defense was put in the spotlight once again as Manchester challenged LaVille in the championship match of the 1A Argos Sectional Saturday night. After a scoreless first half, LaVille rallied from a 1-0 deficit early in the second half to pick up a 2-1 victory over the Squires. It was the first girls soccer sectional title since 2017 and fourth overall. The Lancers improved to 11-6 overall and will face 1A #7 Westview (13-5-2). The match is scheduled to kick at 6 p.m. Eastern Time at Newton Park on October 16. "I really think it came down to our mentality that we weren't going to give up and there was no option but winning sectionals," said senior Mikalah Kuskye, who assisted on both LaVille goals. "We have been working so hard and the seniors have been wanting this sectional title for the last 4 years. The team worked really well together. It was a complete and full 80 minutes of effort. I think the difference from the second half to the first was our drive to score was much higher. The first half we had opportunities but it wasn't till the second half our aggression kicked in that we needed to score no matter what. We are celebrating this weekend looking over film monday on what we can improve before our match up on wednesday. I'm looking forward to Wednesday!" LaVille had scoring opportunities in the first half, but could not cash in as both teams settled for a 0-0 tie at the break. "At halftime, we were kind of frustrated,"acknowledged LaVille coach Kevin Christy. "We knew we were a little better than the way we were playing, but we never lost belief that we could win. "Coach (Angie) Dunlap gave them a pretty good speech at halftime. She told them what she expected, what they should expect from themselves. It was the exact same message that coach (Zak) Tyler and I were thinking and she did a good job sending it. We saw a lot of heads nodding. We came out with a little more energy and started to put some things together." Manchester, who advanced to the finals after a wild 5-4 shootout victory over Culver Community and a 6-0 win over Rochester, scored the first goal of the title match. The Squires netted the first goal of the match just four minutes into the second half. Following a handball on LaVille, Manchester's Ava Sautter launched a long kick, the ball caromed off London Spangle and into the net. But there was no panic in coach Christy's club. Learning from its match in late-August against the Squires, LHS understood there was still plenty of time remaining and a chance to create offense themselves. Kuskye found Mackena Deason making a run and placed a fine pass to her teammate for the match-tying goal in the 50th minute. "Manchester really keyed on them," Christy said when asked about the duo of Kuskye and Deason. "(Manchester was) talking about those two the entire time and their crowd was loud about it. We could hear them across the field at our bench. "The Kuskye to Deason combo has been there all season. Probably the last four years to be honest. Those two have been comfortable with each other and find each other."\ About 10 minutes later, Kuskye connected with Macie Edwards on another through ball for what ended up being the match-winning goal. "Macie Edwards really came through during this sectional," noted Christy. "She came up really big against Argos, then again against Manchester." When asked about the two assists, Kuskye, the assist leader so far in 2024, said, "When I assisted Mackena and Macie it wasn't any different then previous games before. We knew how the Manchester defense played and the opportunities we needed to execute were through balls in the gaps and a quick switch to the backside where Macie was. Macie and Mackena are both talented in finishing the ball and I had the confidence in them in the given opportunities to score." Following the sectional win, the Lancers improved to 6-1 in one-goal matches. In fact, LaVille had to rally in both sectional contests, but found a way to get the job done. "It honestly felt like it played out exactly like we thought it would," concluded Christy. "It was pretty much the same physical, fast-paced match like it was earlier this season ... We knew it would be another one of those one-goal matches." LAVILLE 2, MANCHESTER 1 1A Argos Sectional #36 Championship At Argos Score By Halves Manchester 0 1 - 1 LaVille 0 2 - 2 Scoring Summary First Half No score 2nd Half M - London Spangle, 44th min LV - Mackena Deason (Mikalah Kuskye), 50th LV - Macie Edwards (Mikalah Kuskye), 60th Shots On Goal: LaVille 6, Manchester 7 Saves: LaVille (Denni Markin) 6, Manchester (Cora Brown) 7 Corner kicks: LaVille 3, Manchester 5 Records: LaVille 11-6, Manchester 11-7 (final)