Knights to face stiff competition on the pitch

ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights are facing some tough opponents on the soccer field this fall, but Head Coach Jens Jensen isn’t too worried about it. 

“We have a young team, for sure, just the two starting seniors at the moment,” Jensen said during practice Wednesday. “But the young girls, they're pretty strong, they've got good speed, and they've come with some playing experience.” 

With the WIAA reshuffling teams for its 2024-28 reclassification cycle, Royal will face off against some schools in the Wenatchee Valley they haven’t played in the past, some of which are very good, Jensen said. 

“Cashmere is coming into our league, and they’re really good,” Jensen said. “... Ki-Be should be good, Naches should be in the hunt. I would think that people would expect us to be in there … I think we've got a good chance of getting into districts, and then once we get there, we'd love to sneak out with one of those state spots. The chances of that, I don't think they’re terrible, but we would definitely be an underdog.” 

Last year was kind of disappointing for the Knights girls, who were shot down in districts. 

“We were one game away from state,” said senior Anyeliq Miron. 

“The last round of districts was hosted here, and we lost against Ki-Be,” said Audrey Bergeson, also a senior. “A very sad game.” 

Because of the restructuring of districts with the classification cycle, Jensen said, every game counts now, and with a young squad, they must get up to speed quickly. 

“Every single one of our games counts. We don't have any non-league games,” Jensen said. “They're all must-wins, basically … So, what we're working on is just trying to get a sense of who we are and what we're going to be able to do.” 

Bergeson and Miron are among the standout players on the team, Jensen said. 

“Audrey scored quite a few goals for us last year,” he said. “She's pretty quick up top, and she's strong. Anyeliq, she starts the center of our defense, she just pulled a muscle, so I don't know how long she's going to be out, but she's really important to us. We've got a freshman goalkeeper who's showing some promise.” 

Communication is important to the team, Miron and Bergeson said, and that’s something they need to focus on this season. 

“Talking a lot, opening our mouths to be able to talk to each other and connect those passes,” Miron said. “We have solid girls on the team, so I think it's just talking so we're able to look at each other and receive the ball properly … When in doubt, talk more. Communication is key.” 

“I feel like we're all, we're all pretty good friends,” Bergeson said. “Everyone gets along really good. We have a bunch of new girls, and they're doing great.” 

    The Royal Knights girls soccer team gets some goalkeeping practice in Wednesday.
  

    From left: Alejandra Orozco makes a run at the ball with Vanessa Bernal and Kamila Espino at Wednesday’s soccer practice at Royal High School.