Lawrence High scored the pretty goal, but it couldn’t offset the Lions’ mistakes in a 3-1 loss to Manhattan in their season opener Friday night at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

That summed up the Lions’ night  great at times, but too inconsistent.

“Our goal was brilliant. It showed me that we do have the talent to win,” said LHS coach Keith Nelson.

“I think their three goals came as a result of our mistakes. When we clean up our mistakes, we win the game.”

Junior exchange student Ibrahim Bah scored on a nifty pass from the Lions’ other exchange student, junior David Abreu, with seven minutes left. The Indians had an indirect kick deep in the Lions’ half, but a quick clear left Bah with the ball at midfield, when he quickly played to a streaking Abreu.

Abreu dribbled to the Manhattan end-line, lofted a pass back to Bah, who struck the ball low past the Manhattan goalkeeper into the side net.

“We didn’t play poorly,” Nelson said. “We played well. We just made a few mistakes that they capitalized on.”

Manhattan junior Zach Sizemore hurt Lawrence early when he beat LHS goalkeeper Sean Hargis just nine minutes into the game. The Lions had been unable to clear the ball when Sizemore got off a low shot.

The Indians had four more excellent scoring chances, but didn’t score again in the first half. Forward Andrew Garth was a constant thorn in the side of the Lions’ defense, using his size to control and distribute the ball. A miscommunication gave Garth a breakaway against Hargis just before halftime, but Garth missed left.

“We’re a new team and we just need to slow down a bit,” said senior LHS sweeper Josh Payne.

“We’re making it a lot harder by not talking and not thinking about what we were doing.”

Garth took advantage 12 minutes into the second half, dribbling across the Lawrence goal box, fending off Payne with his body, then putting a shot past Hargis that hit the post and ricocheted in. Manhattan scored its third goal 18 minutes later, by Jared Appel.

By this time, the Lions played even with the Indians, but couldn’t score until Bah’s goal. Still, for a team that Nelson was hoping would show some flashes, he got what he expected against a team that he said was among the state’s best.

“None will be as skilled, none will be as well coached. We’ve seen the best and we’ve seen how we match up against them,” he said. “We matched up pretty well. We will just figure each other out later.”