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MANCHESTER | Last night was a good night to be a member of the Manchester Essex soccer program.

The Hornets boys and girls soccer teams swept a doubleheader against rival Rockport at Sweeney Park in Manchester. The boys team won 2-1, while the girls won 2-0.

Manchester Essex breezed past Ipswich 6-1. Chelsey Macklin scored the Tigers' lone goal.

Saturday night’s contest between the Manchester Essex and Lynnfield football teams was a tale of two games.

The Hornets had struggled to mount any offense for the first 40 minutes and found themselves trailing Lynnfield 14-0, with just four minutes to go in the game. It looked as if the Pioneers were going to cruise to a shutout victory.

CHELSEA | Victory seemed to be slipping away from the Manchester Essex football team.

The Hornets had all but lost a 27-14 halftime lead, by allowing Pope John to get within one point (27-26) with just over one minute to play in the game. All that stood in the way from victory or defeat for the Hornets was a 3-yard two-point conversion try.

Rob Langcor scored on a penalty shot, and Jake McIntosh put in a ball from Matt Xavier as Manchester Essex downed Marian 2-0. Matt Graves made 13 saves to record the clean sheet.

Manchester Essex defeated North Reading 4-0. Stephanie Lamattina scored three goals and Molly Thomas also notched a goal to lead the Hornets, who got three assists from Simone Bodmer-Turner. Anneliese Brosch also added an assist for Manchester in the season opener.

After the way the last three years have gone for the Manchester Essex football team, head coach Mike Athanas knows he can't let his team get too high or too low. Thus, Athanas' formula for success in 2007 is simple, execute from week to week and take it one game at a time. The Hornets enter this fall as the defending Commonwealth Small League Champions. Manchester Essex made the Division 3A playoffs last season, where it lost in the first round to Ipswich 34-0.

MANCHESTER | Rome wasn't built in a day, and the same could be said for any successful football team.

It's a fact that fourth-year Manchester Essex football coach Mike Athanas knows all too well, and one that was probably his inspiration when his team was mired in a 17-game losing streak in 2004 and 2005.

Last year's record: 4-12-2

Coach: Rob Bilsbury (eighth year)

Returning starters: Robbie Longcor, Sr., center midfield/forward; Guiseppe Guerriero, Sr., forward; Jake McIntosh, Jr., center midfield; Matt Xavier, So., outside midfield; Cam Doane, So., defense; Peter Gudonis, Jr., midfield; Ashton Davis Sr., defense.

Most soccer players would sit out for at least a couple of games if they had knocked the joint out of their knee. But Manchester Essex midfielder Lauren Green is not like most soccer players.

Green knocked the joint out of her knee last season when she was slide-tackled by an opposing player. Instead of sitting out the rest of the game, as most doctors would've probably advised her, she wrapped up her knee and went back on the field.