Royal loses at Wahluke on late goals

MATTAWA - The Royal Lady Knights soccer team grabbed an early lead in their contest with the Wahluke Warriors on Tuesday, but wound up on the short end of a 3-1 final in South Central Athletic Conference action.

Royal's Dairi Guevara scored in the 14th minute and Wahluke's Sari Munoz got the equalizer in the 35th minute. The remainder of the game was well-played, Knights head coach Jens Jensen said, with Royal's defense fending off a few quality chances.

"Wahluke had a couple great chances to go ahead," Jensen said, "but for the most part the Royal defense did a fine job holding up."

That is, until the last minute of regulation time when the Warriors pulled the Knights out of position and found Alejandra Rangel unmarked at the top of the penalty area. Rangel made no mistake, scoring with a shot directly over Royal goalkeeper Danni Callahan's head.

The Warriors added another goal in injury time following a corner kick when a Knight defender tried to clear the ball out of the goalmouth and knocked it in. Wahluke had 15 shots on goal to Royal's five. Callahan made 13 saves and Wahluke's Elinn Ocampo had two saves.

"The girls worked hard and had a shot at pulling even at 2-2 before the corner," Jensen said. "(It was) great to see the girls not roll over after the 2-1 goal was scored.

"(They're) at the bottom of the league and they still try to go to goal with only injury time left and their intensity goes up, not down, after facing the disappointment of the go-ahead goal."

The Knights close the regular season with Senior Day on Saturday, hosting Warden at 11 a.m.

"The girls have come a long way as the season has gone on," Jensen said, "and the only drag is that the season is coming to an end when it feels they are at the point of having a major breakthrough."