Spartans defeat Knights on senior night

Skyline remains undefeated in KingCo play with convincing win against Newport

In the final regular season home game of 2016, the Skyline Spartans girls soccer team kept their undefeated season alive on senior night.

The Spartans scored five-first half goals en route to a convincing 8-0 victory against the Newport Knights in a Class 4A KingCo matchup on Oct. 20 at Skyline High School in Sammamish. The Spartans improved their overall record to 11-0-3 with the win. Newport dropped to 2-12-1 overall. The Spartans are currently in first place in the Class 4A KingCo Division. The Spartans quartet of seniors consisting of Candace Hunter, Alexa Kirton, Olivia Bowen and Cameron Tingey made their presences felt in the home finale. Hunter scored a game-high three goals, Tingey added two goals in the first half, Bowen had two assists and Kirton finished with two assists and recorded the final goal of the night in the 72nd minute of play. Junior Ava Giovanola, who takes the bulk of Skyline’s corner-kicks, had two assists as well. Skyline head coach Don Braman was thrilled to see the Spartans seniors dominate the action against Newport.

“It was great to see the seniors put in such an excellent night. We got contributions from all four of them,” Braman said with a smile. “We got some nice goals from Candace Hunter. Cameron Tingey was just lights out early in the game for us. She created a lot of opportunities and got them in the back of the net. Those are the things good teams are able to do is execute.”

Newport head coach Tao Shen said his team gave it everything they had against one of the best teams in Washington. Newport allowed five goals in the first half and three goals in the second half against Skyline.

“The Skyline’s and Issaquah’s of this league are phenomenal and are just really talented. We were here to compete and we did. I was really proud of our efforts not just in this game but throughout the whole year,” Shen said. “We improved tremendously this season.”

The Spartans are looking forward to the playoffs on the pitch in the next few weeks.

“Certainly we are fortunate to have qualified for the KingCo championship game. Right now we’re trying to get better every single game. That is our objective,” Braman said.