History making soccer season sees Kendall girls retain two titles

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Enjoying a history making season Kendall players and coaches, shown here celebrating after the recent Class C2 sectional championship win, include, in front from left, Taylor ReQua, Julia Smith, Jenna Jacob, Taylor Rutland and Maya Rutland. In the second row are Michela Hanlon, Kacey Menge, Amelia Patrick, Hailee Mitchell, Jenna LoSapio, Lizzie Rath, Coralee Freitag, Nathalia Quiles Rivera and Coach Jason ReQua. In the back row are Coach Jenn Legault, Coach Pam Beres, Andrea Villalobos, Eliya Cooper, Dallas Johncox, Keri Furness, Annaliese Bosko, Emily Boyle, Lyndsay Wright, Megan Hardenbrook, and Coach Paul Zeppetella.

Staying on top of the championship mountain, it is often said, is harder than getting there in the first place.

Rising to that challenge, the Kendall girls soccer team successfully stayed atop two title peaks this season by repeating as both Genesee Region League Division 1 and Section V Class C2 champions.

Kendall, in fact, captured the G-R Division 1 crown for the third straight year going 13-0. The Lady Eagles have gone 38-2-3 during that three year stretch including 13-1-1 in 2014 and 12-1-2 in 2013.

The Lady Eagles also made school history by going 16-0 during the regular season, the first time in Kendall history that the team has recorded a perfect regular season.

Keeping the momentum, Kendall went on to claim a second straight sectional class title by defeating South Seneca 4-1 in the C2 championship game and improving to 19-0 on the season. It was the 10th time the Lady Eagles have captured a sectional championship.

Interestingly, the Lady Eagles advanced to the finals by defeating the same foe for the second year in a row in the previous two rounds besting Campebell-Savona 6-0 in the quarterfinals and Warsaw 1-0 in the semifinals.

However, for the second year in a row Kendall’s post season run came to an end by a narrow loss in the Section V Class C state qualifier. In 2014 the Lady Eagles lost 2-1 to Avon while this season is was a 1-0 loss to Cal-Mum that snapped the season long 19 game win streak.

Ironically it marked the third straight year that Kendall and Cal-Mum had met with a sectional title on the line. The teams had split a pair of meetings in the Class CC final the previous two seasons with Cal-Mum winning 1-0 in 2013 and Kendall 2-1 in overtime in 2014.

The Kendall offense this season was spearheaded by Maya Rutland with 29 goals and 7 assists. Taylor Rutland added 12 goals and 10 assists, Taylor ReQua 11 goals and a team leading 22 assists and Coralee Freitag 9 goals and 5 assists for the Lady Eagles.

The Kendall defense was equally effective. Goalie Jenna Jacob and her defensive mates including Elizabeth Rath, Julia Smith, Lyndsay Wright, Amelia Patrick and Andrea Villalobos registered a school record 16 shutouts in 20 games, breaking the old mark of 15, while allowing a total of only 4 goals.

“All of these accolades just show a glimpse of what makes this team so amazing,” said Coach Pam Beres.  “As a coach, I am so proud of everything that the team has accomplished!  This was a fantastic year for Kendall varsity girls soccer,  and I look forward to another great season next year.”