The Kentwood High girls soccer team is finally healthy.
And the results on the scoreboard have reflected as much.
Behind goals from Kiana Kraft and Mykala Benjamin, the Conquerors upended third-ranked Tahoma 2-0 Oct. 28 in the South Puget Sound League North Division regular-season finale for both teams.
“We’ve slowly gotten healthy and gotten over some injuries,” said Kentwood coach Aaron Radford. “We needed a win like this heading into the playoffs to boost our confidence.”
No doubt, this one should do just that. The Bears (15-1-0, 45 points) had allowed just four goals all season entering the match. Kentwood managed to find the back of the net once in the previous meeting, a 2-1 Tahoma win on Oct. 2.
“Tahoma is organized and disciplined,” Radford said. “Going in, we had all the motivation. They were the team to beat, the team on top and had been scored upon only a few times all season.”
Kraft gave Kentwood (12-3-1, 37 points) a lead it would not relinquish with a goal in the 30th minute. Benjamin gave the Conquerors some insurance in the 55th minute on an assist from Cassidy Meyers.
Courtney Johnson earned the shutout in goal. It was Kentwood’s sixth straight win.
Tahoma had wrapped up the SPSL North title before the match began. Both teams, along with Kentlake, which ended the season on a two-game winning streak, open the league playoffs on Wednesday, Nov. 3. Tahoma will play Beamer (10-0-6) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium for the SPSL title. Kentwood, which finished in third place, one point behind Kentlake, will play Rogers (10-3-3) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Federal Way Memorial Stadium for the fifth seed out of the SPSL. Kentlake, which ended the regular season with a 2-0 blanking of Thomas Jefferson, will play Curtis (11-2-3) at 8 p.m. on Wednesday for the third seed out of the SPSL.
All 10 teams that qualified for the SPSL tournament will advance to the West Central District tournament, which begins on Saturday at multiple sites.
Kentwood will enter the SPSL tournament healthier than it has been all year.
“These last couple of weeks, we’ve gotten everybody back and healthy,” Radford said. “We have some bumps and bruises, but we’re about as (healthy) as we’re going to be.”
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