Royal nails down playoff spot with wins over Connell and Mabton
CONNELL — Back-to-back victories on the pitch last week has the Knights playing in the postseason for the first time in two years.
Royal took to the road Oct. 17 to take on Connell in a battle to get the upper hand for the East Conference third seed for the upcoming district playoffs, and it was the Knights coming away with a 1-0 win.
Amy Sandoval broke a scoreless tie late in the second half on a header that made its way to the back of the Eagle box.
“Amy is the smallest player on the field and she came up big for us,” coach Jens Jensen said. “She got her head on a corner sent from Alicia Callahan.”
Royal 4
Mabton 0
ROYAL CITY — The Vikings came into the fuss with the Knights Thursday, Oct. 19 with just one league win on the season, but their play in the first half suggested otherwise as Mabton gave the home team fists and limited Royal to a single goal.
“They came to play and it took us a while to wear them down,” Jensen said. “But things started well with a shot from Lindsey Carrasco from a tight angle (Noelia Juarez Assist). She put it up and over the goalkeeper’s head making one of her signature attacking runs from her outside defender position.”
The early play in the second half was reminiscent of the first as the Knights came out flat and took a few minutes to get focused.
“The flood gate finally opened and we saw three goals fairly quickly. Noelia Juarez got a brace. The first came after she chipped the keeper from a Yajaira Michel assist. The second came when she got behind the defense due to a Marlen Romero assist and hammered home a one-on-one with the Mabton keeper,” Jensen said. “It was senior night, so all the senior field players and gave them a nice ovation and were rewarded with our younger players scoring a final goal when Lindsey Carrasco beat the Mabton defense to a loose ball and slipped it back against the grain for Dani Lima to finish.”
Thursday’s match was the last time Noelia Juarez, Marlen Romero, Denisse Arroyo, Sam Dunn, and Yajaira Michel would take to the pitch for a regular season game at David Nielsen Stadium.
“They are all special people and fine examples of strong women and athletes,” Jensen said. “They have been a joy to coach.”
College Place (2-11, 1-10) upset Connell 2-1, so the Knights lay claim on the No. 3 seed to the district tournament.
Royal closes out regular season play in a meaningless contest against the second place Cougars.
“Warden cannot get into first place if they beat us and we cannot jump them if we win or drop out of third if we lose so I am going to ask the referee to call the match as tight as possible and to withhold cards as I will pull players and keep them off the field if they are in jeopardy of discipline problems,” Jensen said. “We want to win, but player health and eligibility for the next match are far more important.”
The results of Tuesday’s match with Warden were not available at press time.
The Knights will travel to Cle Elum Saturday to match up with the Warriors in round one of district action. The time of the contest has not yet been announced.