Royal soccer girls top Mabton, 3-0

ROYAL CITY – The Royal High School girls soccer team got back to a winning way last week, downing Mabton, 3-0, on the Royal field.

“Mabton is a program that is struggling, but they were organized enough to require something special to break them down,” coach Jens Jensen said.

It took the Knights some time to find the right combination of girls and passes to overcome the Viking defense. But Guadalupe Guadarrama was able to do so shortly before half.

“Once we scored, Mabton had to open up a bit more, and that allowed us to start earning corners and finding more opportunities on goal,”

Corner kicks proved to be a key for the Knights. They scored two more goals early in the second half, Jennifer Ledezma and Alicia Callahan booting the ball home.

Royal dominated the action with 10 shots on goal, while Mabton had three. Keeper Britnee Guerrero saved all three shots.

Later in the week, Royal lost, 3-1, at Warden to finish the first half of the regular season. But it was not for lack of effort.

“We played them tough – had a penalty kick saved and at least four one-on-one opportunities with the Warden keeper,” Jensen said. “We should have done better to keep a couple of their goals out and also been sharper in our finishing, but we feel good about the effort.”

The way things are shaking out in the SCAC East, it appears, Royal, Wahluke and Warden will battle during the second half of league play for the third and fourth berths into the eight-team district tournament.