Senior Marisa Hanlon broke up a scoreless tie with a second half goal and assisted on an insurance marker to lead Kendall to a 2-0 girls soccer victory over Holley at Woodlands Field.
Both teams had a pair of scoring opportunities in the first half, but neither could capitalize. Taylor Rutland fed a pass to Eagles teammate Taylor ReQua in the fifth minute, but was stopped by Holley freshman goalkeeper Lexi Milazzo.
Holley countered one minute later as Riley Sanger sent a cross to Jade Underwood, but her shot from in front of the net sailed over the crossbar.
In the 32nd minute, a handball in the box by Kendall resulted in a penalty kick, but the shot targeted for the upper left corner of the net was grabbed by Eagles keeper Jenna Jacob.
Maya Rutland had another chance for Kendall in the 36th minute, but put her shot over the crossbar on a partial breakaway.
In the second half, it didn’t take long for Kendall to break the 0-0 tie – 29 seconds to be exact.
Taylor ReQua sent a pass through the defense to break Hanlon in on goal and she netted her first goal of the season.
In the final two minutes, Elizabeth Rath took a pass from Hanlon, stepped around the defender and found the upper right corner for her third goal of the season.
Jacob made seven saves in net for Kendall in registering the 11th shutout of the season.
This year marks the second consecutive that both the girls and boys teams have won division titles. Kendall (14-1-1) enters the Section V playoffs as the #2 seed in Class CC and were scheduled to play the winner of the #7 Campbell-Savona at #10 Perry game in the quarter-finals.
Holley, at 5-9-2 during the regular season, entered the playoffs seeded ninth with a first round game at eighth-seed Sodus.
The undefeated 13-0-3 Kendall boys entered the postseason seeded first, but there are no byes necessitating a mid-week game at Perry with winless and 16th seed Bolivar-Richburg.
“The community is supporting both teams and we feed off each other,” Kendall head coach Pam Beres said. “Having a Friday or Saturday playoff game also allows us to be home no matter who we play instead of the neutral field on a weekday.”
