Like any other athlete in any other sport, Manteno senior defender/midfielder Miranda Lingo loves playing in local rivalries. And when the red-hot Panthers hosted Bishop McNamara on Wednesday, she and her teammates couldn’t have asked for a much better showing.

Lingo was one of four different Manteno players to score in Wednesday’s 5-0 win over the Fightin’ Irish. The Panthers (8-7) have now won four of their last five games after snapping a five-game regular season and postseason losing streak to McNamara (3-7-1) that dated back to 2017.

“It’s definitely very exciting, especially when we’re playing at home,” Lingo said. “I just love playing other schools in the area because we all play pretty similarly. It’s just nice being able to see what the schools in the area can do, and playing against them is always so fun. Especially getting a win out of it.”

Against a short-handed Irish team without three starters in the field in addition to goalkeeper Kaneyce Davis, the Panthers wasted little time setting the tone. They already had a handful of solid scoring looks before Emily Horath tickled the twine 13 minutes in.

Three minutes later she ripped another shot from the right wing that Irish goalkeeper Kenda Escamilla was able to knock down, but the deflected ball fell right in front of sophomore forward Loryn Edwards, who converted from inside the box to double the Manteno lead.

Lingo made it a 3-0 game 10 minutes later on a bomb of a free kick from 30-plus yards out. Maddy Belisle scored a minute into the second half before a Horath cross was inadvertently kicked in by an Irish defender in the 52nd minute for the game’s final tally.

Wednesday was the third shutout during the Panthers’ recent hot streak, one in which they’ve outscored their opponents 21-5.

After coming out of the gate winning three of their first four games, they got bit by an injury bug that’s starting to alleviate itself, providing Panthers coach Erik Greenquist more depth on the back end with roughly two weeks left in the regular season.

And perhaps what he liked best was the way the Panthers came out Wednesday and quickly added a pair of goals to erase any chance of a late McNamara rally, something he hasn’t always seen this spring.

“That’s our Achilles’ heel,” Greenquist said. “We hadn’t really put together 80 minutes yet. We came out strong in that second half with two goals in the first 12 minutes. They know I hate the number 2-0 because momentum can shift really fast. We lost one at Reed-Custer (April 16) where we were up 2-0, momentum shifted and we lost in PKs.”

After helping the Panthers to their best-ever girls basketball season in the winter, Horath has also come around. She’s scored seven goals during Manteno’s recent surge, including a pair of hat tricks.

“Soccer’s a lot more running around and stuff, so I had to get back used to more running than basketball, back to using my feet instead of my hands and that coordination is different,” Horath said. “It’s a different team, different atmosphere too, so going from one to the other was a change.”

Since picking up their first win of the season against Wilmington April 13, the Fightin’ Irish have seen some progress, entering Wednesday with a 3-2-1 record in their last six games. And even with just 13 able-bodied players Wednesday, first-year McNamara coach Dave Kruse is getting admirable efforts.

“I’m just happy with the effort that the girls are putting out every single day,” Kruse said. “It’s always tough when you don’t have a deep bench, but they’ve overcome that and showed their adversity, so I really appreciate all the girls’ efforts this year. … A lot of the time you can start to see the connection with the girls when we have them all."

The Panthers will look to stay hot when they host Coal City Thursday before they visit Herscher Tuesday. McNamara will host Reed-Custer Monday.

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Bishop McNamara's Lily Walker-Dionne, left, and Manteno's Litzy Campos-Avila battle for a loose ball during a game at Manteno Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)