Royal stops College Place, 4-0, in soccer

ROYAL CITY – The Royal girls defeated College Place, 4-0, and dropped a 2-1 nail-biter to Wahluke in prep soccer last week, and stand at 2-1 in the early season.

Yajaira Michel opened the scoring against College Place on an assist from Karla Villalobos. Dani Lima and Jenny Ledezma scored to make it 3-0 at the half. Both were individual efforts.

Lima fought her way through multiple attackers, and Ledezma scored from the penalty mark. Lima scored again in the second half to make it 4-0 on a shot into the upper far corner.

“Once again, the girls looked like they have a decent idea of what we are trying to do, and found success in their effort to do so,” coach Jens Jensen said.

In the second match of the week, Wahluke scored on a penalty kick to lead, 1-0, at the half. The winning goal for Wahluke resulted from miscommunication by the Knights.

Wahluke played a ball that held up in the grass between Royal defenders and the goalkeeper. The Knights hesitated because of miscommunication, and a coming together of several players resulted in a tap-in.

Lima scored lated to make the score 2-1.

“We made changes to our shape and began to gain some traction, having a goal called back, and getting a goal right before the final whistle,” Jensen said.

“We did not play well, but we were still in the match, so we are hopeful that when we see them in Royal we can play closer to our potential and reverse the result,” Jensen added.