Knights’ attack explodes in commanding win over Wapato

ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights (11-1-1) defended home field after they earned a dominant 9-0 win over the Wapato Wolves Thursday. Though it took a while to find a rhythm, the Knights found a way to overwhelm the Wolves' defense on the pitch. 

“Their goalkeeper did really well in the first half,” Head Coach Jens Jensen said. “Then we figured a few things out and kind of overwhelmed her. They battled in the beginning, but I think we looked pretty good. We got the ball wide, and we're looking to send a lot of crosses, and that looked good, and they were dangerous on a lot of those crosses a high percentage of the time.” 

Like much of their season so far, the Knights' attack was aggressive out of the gate, taking several shots on goal in the opening minutes of the game. Eventually their ambition paid off when Sophia Villafana passed the ball to an open Lauren Wardenaar for their first goal of the game.  

From there, the Knights' attack remained suffocating but struggled to capitalize on their shots. Though they never seemed discouraged by this as they broke the game open in the final five minutes of the half. After Marilyn Deras split two defenders for the second score of the half, Maggie Frank earned two more scores of her own to give Royal the 4-0 lead at halftime.  

After the break, Royal continued to dominate possession, as Deras, Frank and Villafana built the lead to 8-0 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Jensen subbed out the starters as the half went on, though that didn’t slow Royal down as they added an additional score to put the finishing touches on the win.  

Though pleased with the win, Jensen vocalized his desire to see his team start fast sooner with tougher opponents still ahead this season.  

“It becomes a little worrying when it took quite a while for us to really bust the doors open,” he said. “When we play against these better teams, we might get two chances and we need to score, so that can be a concern in this game. When they turn it around, and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, they finally kind of put it together, you say, ‘Alright, good. Let's get on a little run. Let's host College Place here on Tuesday and see if we can't do the same thing.’” 

After winning their fifth straight game, the Knights are seeded second in the South Central Athletic Conference, just behind the undefeated Cashmere. To this point in the season, the Knights have been one of the hardest teams to beat, something Jensen attributes to their defense.  

“When we play against the better teams, our defense does a fine job of destroying,” he said.  

However, he was reflective on what they can continue to improve on, as well.  

“They have a difficult time creating,” said the coach. “But they do a fine job of destroying. It's a lot of clean sheets this year, and that's been a big help defensively. Also, having two great goalkeepers, you can make a change or get somebody hurt in the goalkeeper position, and it doesn't hurt us a ton. That's a pretty big deal. Then of course, the midfield is the engine room with Marilyn and Maggie, they just make stuff happen.” 

The Knights return to their home pitch on Tuesday when they host College Place at 6 p.m. That’ll be one of four remaining games in the regular season.  

“Our goal is to try to make that district final. You still have to deal with the teams up in north, so you're going to have to deal with Cascade or Omak or Okanagan,” Jensen said. “But the goal is to make that district final and see what happens, and to try to get a place into the state tournament where we can get ranked (and) we can avoid the private schools.” 

BOX SCORE:  

WPTO: 0-0: 0 

ROYL: 4-5: 9 

    Sophia Villafana (3) breaks into open field as the Knights advance their attack against Wapato Thursday.
  

    Maggie Frank (14) zeros in on the ball as she races a Wapato player to it.
  

    Aurora Santillan (22) navigates the field as she helps Royal advance their attack against Wapato on Thursday.