By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls soccer team continues to build momentum for a strong postseason run, posting a 3-0 shutout non-league victory over Wichita Northwest Thursday night at McElroy Field.
With Thursday's win the Junior Blues pushed their winning streak to eight games, all by shutout.
Washburn Rural celebrates a goal from junior Kate Hinck (9) in Thursday's 3-0 non-league win over Wichita Northwest at McElroy Field. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Now 11-2-0, Brian Hensyel's team is currently the No. 1 West seed for the Class 6A playoffs while putting itself in position for another Centennial League championship.
"We did well tonight,'' Hensyel said. "The defense has been really good. We had a couple of losses early (in the season) and some goals given up early but eight straight wins, eight straight shutouts, we're rolling on defense and we're doing the things we want to.
"What we've been working on a lot is moving the ball, keeping possession of the ball and trying to create opportunities and making teams defend us, finishing set plays and that kind of stuff. We created a lot of opportunities tonight and Northwest (8-6-0) made some nice plays to keep us out of the net but we were pretty happy with the game.''
Junior Destiny Higgs scored the game's first goal and also had an assist in Thursday's 3-0 Washburn Rural soccer win over Wichita Northwest. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The Junior Blues needed only 5:36 to score the only goal they would need against the Grizzlies, with junior Destiny Higgs finding the back of the net to put Rural up 1-0.
A little over six minutes later, at the 28:03 mark, junior Kate Hinck made it a 2-0 game and sophomore Emma Wong added the final goal of the night with 21:40 left in the first half, giving Rural its commanding three-goal advantage.
Higgs also contributed an assist for the Junior Blues while sophomore Allie Schroeder and freshman Erika Bovell were also credited with an assists.
Senior Mackenzie Flood and junior Madison Lemke split time in goal for the Junior Blues, combining for the shutout.
"Our schedule's been tough,'' Hensyel said. "Thirteen games and only three at home and have played teams like Olathe West, Bishop Carroll, Olathe Northwest, some really good teams, and to battle through all these road games and weather conditions and all of this and to be on this streak, we're in position where we have three games next week and we need to win two of them to secure the No. 1 seed and that's always our goal.
"We want to finish off the league and be league champs, so everything we set as a goal at the beginning of the year is accomplished or we have a chance to accomplish next week and then we'll turn our attention to the playoffs. We've got a good group, we're jelling and we've played really well the last few weeks.''
The Junior Blues will host Topeka High next Tuesday in their final Centennial League contest before traveling to Seaman next Thursday and closing out the regular season next Friday at home against perennial 6A title contender Blue Valley West.
WASHBURN RURAL 3, WICHITA NORTHWEST 0
Wichita Northwest (8-6-0) 0 0 -- 0
Washburn Rural (11-2-0) 3 0 -- 3
Washburn Rural -- Goals: Destiny Higgs, Kate Hinck, Emma Wong. Assists: Allie Schroeder, Destiny Higgs, Erika Bovell. Shutout: Mackenzie Flood, Madison Lemke.
