Knights win fourth straight, defeat College Place 2-0

ROYAL CITY – Royal's winning streak stretched to four in a row with Tuesday night’s 2-0 shutout of College Place, as the Knights scored late in both halves to leave their home field with the win. 

“This is a big game for us; all these games at home, against teams that are around us (in the standings), you’ve got to win,” head coach Jens Jensen said. 

After struggling to find shots on target early in the first half, Royal got on the board in the 35th minute with a goal by senior Audrey Bergeson, who corralled the ball after it slipped through the hands of the College Place goalkeeper after the ball was hit in the air by Royal junior Taylor Webb. After a brief scrum, Bergeson tapped the ball into the back left corner of the net for the lead. 

“It definitely is nice to start off with a goal, but in our minds, it’s 0-0 the whole game,” Bergeson said. “We’re fighting for another one and another one, always.” 

The Knights continued to possess the ball well out of halftime, leading to five second-half shots on the Hawk net; the fifth shot came from sophomore Maggie Frank, who scored off a pass from Bergeson in the 77th minute to seal the win for Royal. 

“We’ve been talking a lot about positioning, and as a forward, making the right runs,” Frank said. “With Audrey going out wide, I wanted to be (on) the far post to be able to connect a pass.” 

Royal’s defense held the Hawks without a shot on goal the entire match. The win was the fourth game of the season for the Knights with a clean sheet. 

“We had some girls that took some hits,” Jensen said of the Royal defenders. “They took some hits, and they just played tough.” 

Helping the defense was the Knights controlling the ball for the bulk of the match; on the few College Place scoring opportunities on Tuesday night, Royal defenders swept in to break up and intercept attempted passes. 

“They had one free kick, and that was pretty much it,” Jensen said. “In the second half, I told the girls, ‘We’ve got to keep our foot on the gas,’” Jensen said. “We’re getting the ball into the attacking third, and then it’s just kind of petering out. But we kept the pressure on -- (thinking) it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.” 

A changing of Royal’s shape is what brought on the second goal of the match, Jensen said. The Knights played two strikers and moved another player in between the midfield and attack positions. 

“When it’s 1-0 and you have all the control, you’re asking all the questions, you can get sucker punched in this game,” Jensen said. “I was really happy that we got the second goal.” 

Royal improved to 6-2 this fall with the win over College Place; the Knights, like many teams in the South Central Athletic Conference, are playing league-only schedules this season. Cashmere, Naches Valley, Kiona-Benton and Connell all have one non-league game on the schedule. 

A lack of non-league games means there isn’t time to work things out, since each game affects seeding in the district tournament. 

“There’s no games where you can say, ‘Oh, it’s OK, we learned, let’s try some different people in different spots and move some things around,’” Jensen said. “It’s like, no, we’ve got to go every game. And that’s fun – a different kind of fun.” 

Royal travels to Kiona-Benton on Thursday at 6 p.m.  

“I feel like today was another move in a positive direction,” Jensen said. “Over the season we’re going to get a lot better, and I feel like we’re starting to see that more.” 

Box score 

CLP: 0-0 0
RYL: 1-1 2 

    Royal sophomore Maggie Frank (14) looks for a teammate to pass the ball to during the first half of Tuesday’s match against College Place. Frank scored a goal in the 77th minute to help seal the win.
  

    Royal freshman Bella Villafana (2) battles with a College Place player for possession of the ball during the first half of Tuesday’s match against the Hawks.