Royal girls drop finale by one goal
Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune - Karla Villalobos of Royal competes with a Warden girl for the ball late in the game. The Knights went down battling.
ROYAL CITY — The Royal High School girls soccer team dropped its season finale, 2-1, to Warden last week.
“Unfortunately it was a one-goal re-run of what we have been seeing all season,” coach Jens Jensen said. “Many chances, and for all but about 20 minutes of the match, we looked the more likely to score.”
Warden scored in the 20th minute on a free kick that froze the Royal keeper. The ball touched down in front of her and bounced directly over her head and into the net.
It took a while for the Knights to regroup. Then, while pushing forward for the equalizer, they were left open at the back, and a Warden attacker hammered home a full volley in the 68th minute.
Yajaira Michel was able to answer back and get a well deserved goal immediately. Then the Knights pushed everyone forward in a desperate attempt to get back to level.
Several golden opportunities presented themselves in the closing minutes, but the attempts were either saved or missed the mark.
The Knights took 11 shots, six on goal. Warden had seven shots, six on goal. Denisse Arroyo saved four Warden shots. Michel’s goal was scored in the 74th minute.
“It has been a bummer to find ourselves on the wrong side of so many close matches this year, but the girls continued to learn and never gave up,” Jensen said.