Early goal, late wind cost Royal Knights

ROYAL CITY — Looking to take advantage of the wind at their backs in the first half, Royal instead gave up an early goal to the Highland Scotties, with the Royal Knights eventually losing the showdown of SCAC playoff hopefuls 3-0 Saturday.

For the Knights, missed opportunities in the first half were the difference in the game, as Royal failed to convert on several excellent scoring opportunities in the game's first 40 minutes.

Just minutes into the game, a booming goal kick from Royal keeper Ivan Arroyo cleared the entire Highland defense, giving forward Raul Guerrero the ball and a clean path to the Highland goal. Scotties' goalkeeper Armando Vara saved Guerrero's shot to keep the game scoreless, one of several key saves the Highland net-tender had against the Knights.

In the 14th minute, Luis De La Rosa had an open shot from the left side sail just over the crossbar, denying the Knights another potential goal.

With seven minutes to play in the first half, forward Carlos Garcia timed a run perfectly, just avoiding an offside call to create a one-on-one situation with the Highland goalkeeper. Highland's Vara came out to challenge Garcia and broke up the run before the Knights' senior could get off a shot. Garcia also had a pair of headers that narrowly missed the net, one drifting wide and one floating over the crossbar.

"We had three great chances that 75 percent of the time are goals, and we missed them," said Royal coach Jens Jensen. "We could have gone in (up) 2-1 at the half. In that case, it would have been a different situation."

Instead, Highland took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute after Hugo Garcia cleaned up a rebound of his own penalty-kick shot. On the play, Arroyo dove to his right to save the initial shot, but the rebound went right to Garcia, who easily played the ball into the wide-open net.

The goal, combined with Royal's inability to score in the first half, left them in a difficult situation as they turned to face the wind in the second half.

"We couldn't beat the goal deficit and the wind," said Jensen. "In a game like this against this team, it's rough."

Highland owned the second half of play, scoring just six minutes in when David Delgado dropped a ball over the head of a charging Arroyo that rolled between the posts for a 2-0 Scotties' lead. Seven minutes later, Delgado picked up his second goal of the game when a scrum directly in front of the Royal goal resulted in a loose ball and an open net for a 3-0 Highland lead.

Not only did the Scotties control the scoring in the second half, they controlled the ball; while the first half saw the teams trade possession and alternate runs at the goal, Highland held the ball for a large portion of the game's final 40 minutes.