ROYAL CITY — The Royal Knights (3-0-2) defeated the Wahluke Warriors (3-1-1) 2-0 Tuesday. Royal Assistant Coach Adan Martinez said their previous games leading up to Tuesday prepared them for this game.  

“One of the games that we had over the weekend, playing Vashon Island, that really helped the boys get into the rhythm of playing physical and that definitely prepared them for today's matchup. We know they're going to play their best against us, and we definitely have to respond,” Martinez said.  

Royal Head Coach Jens Jensen missed Tuesday’s game due to a double yellow card from their game against Vashon Island, according to an assistant coach. However, the Knights still executed the game plan with two goals in the first half by Brian Amado and Cristian Nieto to take a 2-0 lead over the Warriors at halftime. In the second half, Wahluke made pushes to attack the Knights defense and get on the board, but Royal was prepared and prevented any goals until time ran out.  

“We created a lot of chances today, but we couldn't punch them in,” Wahluke Head Coach Cele Lopez said. “Hopefully we can get some physicality in the future and teach the boys to be a little bit more confident (on the field).”  

The Warriors did their best to challenge the Knights at both ends of the field, but they were able to respond with physicality, Assistant Coach Ty Miller said.  

“They're playing from the defensive line to the midfield. They pick you apart with wall passes, and they were doing that to us; luckily, we were able to shut them down from shooting and being dangerous with their strikers,” Martinez said.  

The Warriors return several starters this season, but plenty of freshman players who seem timid on the field, Lopez said. As the season progresses, he is hopeful one of his upperclassmen can fill the leadership role for the team and help bring the younger guys along.  

“We need a guy that motivates everyone, stays positive (and) keeps everybody engaged,” he said.  

As they look ahead, Lopez is confident his players can learn from the loss and turn their season around.  

“Royal worked harder than us. We're pretty similar in style, we have good players, we have physical players, but they worked harder today than us,” Lopez said. “We pushed at the end with everything we had, but they were smart. They scored when they needed it, and I think that's the lesson to learn today, that we need to be have a little bit more of the punch when we need to score, when we need to put the games away and not wait for the last minute... I'm confident enough that we're going to make some adjustments and we're going to come back stronger.” 

For the Knights, they look forward to carrying this momentum forward into the rest of the season, Miler said.  

“This is definitely a big game, (we’ll) just hopefully ride the momentum, keep going and let the cards fall where they will,” Miller said.  

The Warriors return to the pitch Thursday to host Toppenish at 4 p.m. Meanwhile, the Knights hit the road to play the Cashmere Bulldogs Thursday at 6 p.m. Their next home game is set for March 21 when they host Connell at 1 p.m. 

BOX SCORE:  

WHLK: 0-0: 0
ROYL: 2-0: 2 

ROYAL ROSTER: 

Name, Jersey  

Reinaldo Perez, GK
Armando Rojas, GK
Carlos Villafana, 2
Adrian Padilla, 3
Scout Stevenson, 4
Anderson Brown, 5
Jose Leyva, 6
Elmer Gonzalez, 7
Brian Amado, 8
Dannis Ramos, 9
Ernesto Deras, 11
Cristian Nieto, 12
Brayan Miron, 16
Diego Hernandez, 17
Carlos Barajas, 18
Jose Orozco, 19
Bade Jensen, 20
Luis Rodriguez, 21
Shea Stevenson, 23
Jeonatan Dircio, 26 

WAHLUKE ROSTER: 

Name, Jersey  

Jonathan Gatica Ramirez, 1
Adrian Avalos, 2
Gadiel Santiago Garcia, 3
Hector Contreras, 4
Alexander Adame, 5
Moises Antunez, 6
Jan Hernandez, 7
Aiden Miramontes-Ramirez, 8
Alan Nazario, 9
Ethan Moreno, 10
Baldrick Gomez, 11
Rafael Rodriguez, 12
Miguel Valdovinos, 13
Alan Arroyo, 14
Christopher Barajas-Ortiz, 15
Carlos Ortiz Manzano, 16
Icker Lopez, 17
Bryan Esquivel, 19
Franco Perez, 20
Salvador Ledesma Rangel, 21  

      

    The Wahluke Warriors’ Hector Contreras (4) pushes the ball up the field as Jeonatan Dircio (26) chases closes behind.
  

    The Wahluke Warriors’ Rafael Rodriguez (12) races a Royal defender for the ball during their game Tuesday.