Wahluke Warriors top Royal Knights in soccer, 2-1, but there's a protest
MATTAWA — As expected, Royal and Wahluke had a spirited, tough, long high school soccer match here last Thursday, and it may not be finished.
As things stood Thursday evening after regulation, two overtimes and a shootout, Wahluke was the winner, 2-1. But Royal Coach Jens Jensen finished the shootout under protest.
The protest was over an official’s call, not Wahluke’s play.
“We had to protest the shootout because the referee misapplied the rules of a shootout,” Jensen said.
The match went like most recent Royal-Wahluke matches. Neither team scored in the first half with the wind at Wahluke’s back.
Right after halftime, with the wind at their backs, the Knights scored first. At 46:01, after passes by Michael Rojas and Alex Contreras, Oscar Castro scored.
Wahluke countered 15 minutes later when midfielder Jose Alejo found midfielder Jorge Rincon at the top of the box with a pass and Rincon scored. Rincon had a stellar match, taking four shots on goal.
Then the teams went back to a defensive game, although Wahluke appeared to be more the aggressor. Jensen’s stat sheet credited the Warriors with 13 shots on goal while his team managed only five.
“We had our chances. We could have won 3-1,” Wahluke coach Arthur DeVictoria said. “We had a lot of shots. We just couldn’t get it home.”
The good news for Royal was tender Carlos Quintero. He made eight saves. Wahluke tender Ulysses Gonzalez recorded three.
It was a rough contest at times, with both teams assessed three yellow cards. And both coaches were upset with the officials from the start. They arrived late, and the match started at about 4:10.
The teams played an overtime, and still the score was 1-1. They played a second overtime, and the score was still 1-1.
The teams went to a shootout, and Royal took an early advantage when the first Warrior booter missed his shot. Royal made its first three shots while Wahluke made its next two.
Then the controversy occurred. The Wahluke tender was called for infringing the distance between the kicker and him before the kicker kicked. However, the referee did not allow the kicker to kick again because he missed.
“(The referee) failed to recognize a free kick is required in that situation,” Jensen said.
Wahluke made its last two kicks, and Royal missed again, the shootout ending 4-3 in favor of the Warriors. One of Gonzalez’s saves came on Royal’s last shootout kick.
“Based on the protest, it is likely the match is not over, and we will need to repeat the shootout from the point of the misapplication of the rule,” Jensen said.
As things stood Thursday night, Wahluke advanced its record to 3-0-1 and 1-0 in the SCAC East. Royal dropped to 1-1 overall and started SCAC East play 0-1.