By Brandon Folsom | bfolsom@mlive.com

KALAMAZOO - As young as Manchester's girls soccer team is, not many believed a team with eight sophomores and nine freshmen could make it this far.

Manchester sophomore Jessie Manders scored a pair of goals to help lift the Flying Dutchmen past Holland Black River 2-0 in a regional semifinal on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon at Kalamazoo College.

A club team last season and competing in its first ever MHSAA postseason, Manchester is now three games away from winning a Division 4 state title.

“This is our first year playing in the tournament, and it feels like we’re a Cinderella story,” Manchester coach Mark Davis said. “We were not expected to go far, but we’ve been great. We’ll play against anyone.”

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Manders scored her first goal by shooting the ball past a scrum of defenders from 10 yards out with 16 minutes remaining in the game.

Four minutes later, sophomore Sydnie Ahrens passed to a ready-to-shoot Manders in front of the net. Manders scored on the shot and put the game out of reach at 2-0. The second goal was Manders’ 51st goal and Ahrens’ 37th assist of the season.

“It was a battle between two teams who know how to play competitive girls soccer,” Davis said. “We knew Holland Black River was a very talented team at all 11 positions, so a young team like us, with only one senior, had to rely on our playmaking ability and smarts to get the win.”

Manchester depended on goalkeeper Kendra Beasley, who finished with 15 saves, to keep Black River off the scoreboard in the first half, while the Flying Dutchmen struggled on offense. Black River kept the ball in the attacking third for most of the half. However, both teams entered halftime tied 0-0.

“We struggled offensively in the first half, because we’ve never played on turf before,” Manders said. “We made some adjustments at halftime, and then we finally got used to passing the ball around on the turf.”

Black River topped Hudsonville Freedom Christian 6-1 in the district finals last Saturday. Davis, who is close friends with the Freedom Christian boys soccer coach Nathan Sharpe, relied on Sharpe’s advice for stopping sophomore Eliza Beird, one of Black River’s best offensive players.

“Nathan was the goalie on my high school soccer team at Adrian Lenawee Christian, so based on the scouting report he gave us, he said we must shutdown Beird,” Davis acknowledged. “He said Beird was the girl who hurt Freedom Christian the most. Our plan was to stop Beird and just defend everyone else straight up, and we were able to do just that.”

Black River coach Kyle Lawton was impressed with how many scoring opportunities Beird and sophomore Allison Vroon created and applauded their efforts overall this season.

“Eliza did a good job and created several scoring opportunities for us,” Lawton said. “Allison is a unique player with good overall ball skills, speed, and endurance.”

Vroon dictated play at midfield for most of the game and was one of the fastest players on the field.

Manchester (19-1-1) faces Kalamazoo Christian in the regional finals at 6 p.m. Thursday at Kalamazoo College.

Black River (16-3-2) put together one of its best seasons in school history, and Lawton said he is proud of the program he is building and of how far it has come in the past few years.

“I told our girls that they have to be proud with what they did this season.” Lawton added. “It’s not the result we wanted, but they have to be proud of the legacy they’re leaving behind here at Black River, because they’re the first team to ever win a district title.”

Manchester will play Kalamazoo Christian in the regional final at Kalamazoo College at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Kalamazoo Christian beat St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic 3-0 on Tuesday.