No easy road

EPHRATA — Royal felt like it never gave Ephrata the upperhand.

Head coach Darren Christensen expected a one-goal difference amongst the two schools and while his prediction was correct, it also eliminated the Knights from the CWAC district soccer tournament Thursday in a 1-0 loss to the Tigers at Ephrata High School.

"I wish it was us," Christensen said. "I was half right."

Ephrata managed to shut out the second highest scoring team in the CWAC South in a game that could have been broken wide open, if it weren't for the efforts of Ivan Arroyo, who finished with eight saves after taking on 19 shots from the Tigers.

"We had some legitimate shots and there were two in the first half I thought were definitely in the back of the net," Ephrata head coach Ken Murray said about Arroyo's performance.

Murray told his team that the Tigers could have taken a 6-0 lead on the Knights, but had difficulty dealing with the numbers Royal put in the box on defense.

It wasn't until midway through the second half that Ephrata found a hole in the Royal traffic. Akito Enomoto got past a Royal defender on a breakaway on the rightside of the Knights' goal box, turned around and pooched a pass to Mauro Chavez, who followed with a punch shot in between defenders and past a diving Arroyo.

"Akito probably only had about 10 minuytes tonight and he made them valuable," Murray said.

Royal picked up its intensity and attempts after the goal, but could only manage a header from Silvano Ramos in the box that sailed high over Dan Landeck's hands. Ephrata finished the game with pressure on Royal's goal to hold the Knights scoreless for the second time this year.

The Knights travel to Highland on Saturday, needing only one more win to secure a spot in the state tournament. The difficulty is Highland finished tied for first in the CWAC South and only two losses on the season. Highland was also scored the most goals in the South, but it didn't seem to concern Murray too much after holding the second leading scoring team, Royal, to a shutout.

"We match up really well with them," Murray said. "They are a lot like Royal."