ROYAL CITY — The Knights bounced back from an early deficit to win 9-1 over College Place on Saturday afternoon, with three players scoring multiple goals in the win.

“We’re playing the softer part of the schedule, so we have to be honest about that,” Head Coach Jens Jensen said. “That being said, still, that game is a win and you’ve got to get wins to be in the postseason. We’re happy about it. We’ve had some light scoring in the early season, so I hope that gives us some confidence in front of goal.”

Even though the Knights opened up Saturday’s contest with a strong attack, College Place struck first for a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute. From there on it was all Royal, as the Knights added goals in the 17th minute, 24th minute, 38th minute and another one in first-half stoppage time.

“We started off a little rough, but we came together as a team, as a collective,” senior Silverio Hernandez said. “We played good and came out with the victory.”

“We keep each other to a high standard and we want to keep pushing that,” Hernandez said. “A little miscommunication caused that goal, but we decided to put our head down and get to work.”

Junior Jose Victoriano scored first, striking from two feet in front of the net after sophomore Victor Aquino headed the ball away from the College Place goalkeeper. Hernandez scored seven minutes, assisted by senior Alexis Dias for a 2-1 lead. The Knights closed out the first half with goals by senior Abraham Montoya and Aquino for a 4-1 lead after the first 40 minutes.

“They got punched in the mouth, and then they were like, ‘OK, let’s go,’” Jensen said. “‘Let’s get things going.’ Scoring the first couple of goals got everybody starting to believe again.”

Royal picked up where they left off in the second half when Aquino scored his second goal of the afternoon in the 49th minute. Hernandez netted his second goal just two minutes later, and freshman Ernesto Deras (58th minute) and junior Freddy Cabrera (75th minute) also scored in the second half.

Hernandez scored his third goal in the 61st minute to give him a hat trick on the day.

“We’re looking for someone to break out, and so the fact that (Hernandez) gets a hat trick is great,” Jensen said. “It’s fantastic. He has been scoring consistently, it just hasn’t been in bags of goals. He fights, he’s strong. He’s got decent balance and he’s not afraid to get into a scrap. That’s one of his major high points.”

The win was Royal’s fourth straight, moving them to 4-2 on the season.

“It gives us good momentum for our game on Tuesday against (Wahluke),” Hernandez said.

After the loss to Connell, Montoya moved to left midfielder since he’s a “natural left-footer,” Jensen said, and that gave the Knights some speed and opened up the field.

“It changed everything for us,” he said.

Royal travels to Wahluke on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Ian Bivona can be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.