Boys soccer
Tippecanoe Valley’s boys soccer team played two hard-fought matches at the Plymouth Blueberry Festival this past weekend, losing to Logansport 4-0 in the first match and then to Mishawaka 7-2 in the second match.

Valley utilized an overbalanced defense to negate an extremely fast Berry squad in the first half against Logansport, holding them to only one goal — given up at the 15-minute mark — and going into halftime down only 1-0. With the Vikings coming out the second half in the same defensive stance, Logansport then found the mark in the 44th, 50th and 65th minutes to go on to a 4-0 win against the Vikings.

The Vikings could only muster two shots, one on goal, but defensively looked far better than their 13-0 loss against Manchester last week. Senior Captain Alan Jimenez anchored the defensive diamond and was relentless, primarily responsible for takeaway after takeaway. His efforts most certainly helped cap this score and earned him player of the match for his team. Senior keeper Fabian Mar went the full 80 minutes between the posts, recording 11 saves in the loss.

Meanwhile in the second game against Mishawaka, with Mar on the field and sophomore backup Jorge Rosas in the net, Valley struck first at the 12-minute mark on an unassisted power strike by Mar, his fifth of the season. Skill, speed and execution were advantages Mishawaka exhibited over the next 28 minutes by scoring in the 18th, 23rd, 26th, and 31st minutes and taking a 4-1 lead into halftime.

Senior Spanish exchange student Xabier Armentia scored his first career goal for Valley just five minutes into the second half held to bring the Vikings within two goals. The halftime keeper switch by Valley to Harrison Vining after Rosas suffered a finger injury proved a solid decision as the Vikings held off the Cavemen from scoring all the way until the 55-minute mark, when Valley went down 5-2.

The quickness and skill level of Mishawaka was just too much as they again found the back of the net in the 60th and 75th minutes to hold on to a 7-2 victory over Valley.

Defensively Drew Hartman led the way for Valley and is the player of the match. Rosas is credited with the loss and Valley falls to 1-6 (0-2 TRC) and plays today at North Miami in TRC action.

Cross country
Tippecanoe Valley’s cross country teams competed at the Manchester Invitational Saturday.

The Valley girls placed 11th with a score of 233, while the Vikings placed 15th with a score of 386.

Penn won the boys meet on a tiebreaker, beating out Morgan Township, which also scored a 35, and host Manchester finished seventh with a 193. Rochester topped the girls’ standings with a 59, ahead of Penn’s 71, while Manchester finished third with a 75 score.

Jadyn Kolesiak paced the Lady Vikings in 34th place with a 22:59.69 time, while Valeria Jimenez placed 39th in 23:21.33. Ava Craig (23:49.66) was 45th, followed closely by Haley Hoover (23:51.23) in 46th. Lauren Sponseller (27:12.74) placed 69th for Valley.

On the boys side, Matthew Howes turned in a 19:23.37 stop to pace the Vikings in 59th. Mitchell smith (19.34.08) placed 63rd, Justin Peconga (20:19.81) was 79th, Ethan Hartman (20:36.84) finished 86th, and Evan Lowman (22:13.58) finished 99th.

Jaelyn Webb finished second in the girls race in 20:09.24 for Manchester, while Torina Runkel was sixth in 21:17.05, and Katie Barker was 14th in 21:55.10. Sydney Diefenbaugh (22:14.99) finished 21st and Anna Markham (22:48.81) was 32nd for the Lady Squires.

Carter Bedke led the Manchester boys in 25th place in a time of 17:56.99. Lance Bennett (35:56.39) finished 27th, Benjamin Reichenbach (18:47.26) was 42nd, Ethan Davis (18:49.52) was 43rd, and Montgomery Pattison (19:20.56) was 56th.

Jr. high cross country
Valley’s junior high cross country teams ran at the Manchester Invitational over the weekend. The girls placed fourth, and the boys placed seventh.

Chesnee Miller (12:54.64) was 18th, while Ella Myers (13.35.93) was 31st, Maria Henderson (13:37.97) was 32nd, Corinna Stiles (13:49.10) was 36th, and Molly Moriarty (13:49.17) was 37th.

Nolan Cumberland (11:58.55) was 28th, Kynan Cords (12:23.74) placed 35th, Carson Craft (12:32.29) was 40th, Cooper Walls (12:32.92) finished 41st, and Logan Hummitch (12:39.51) was 45th.