Kendall girls post shutout victory in sectional semifinals

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 28 October 2014 at 12:00 am

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Kristen Jacob (9), who scored the opening goal, tries to head the ball off a corner against Warsaw defenders Grace Wolf (13) and Meryl Wakefield (21) during the Lady Eagles sectional semifinal victory this evening at Cal-Mum.

No. 2 seed Kendall has earned a return trip to the finals as the Lady Eagles blanked No. 6 Warsaw 3-0 in the Section V Class CC semifinals this evening at Caledonia-Mumford.

The victory propels Kendall into a rematch of last year’s title contest against top seeded Cal-Mum which defeated No. 4 Geneseo 3-1 in the other semifinal. Cal-Mum nipped Kendall 1-0 in last year’s final. The title contest is scheduled for Friday at a site and time to be announced.

Kristen Jacob, Taylor Rutland and Maya Rutland took turns scoring the goals for Kendall which improves to 16-1-1.

Jacob scored what proved to be the game winning goal on a penalty kick with 17:42 remaining in the first half.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Kendall’s Taylor Rutland, who scored the second goal, battles for control of the ball with Warsaw’s Riley Mucher (8).

Kendall, despite dominating play throughout, remained locked in a tight 1-0 game until 10 minutes remained in the second half when Taylor Rutland scored on a long shot from straight away.

The Lady Eagles then capped off the victory when Maya Rutland scored with three minutes to go off an assist from Marisa Hanlon.

“We did a really great job of possessing the ball and kept control in the attacking third of the field,” said Kendall Coach Pam Beres. “We definitely would like a rematch (with Cal-Mum) but it will be a tough matchup. The key will be if we can possess the ball like we did tonight and keep control in the attacking third. But we know we have our work cut out for us.”