Kendall finished off a perfect girls soccer regular season with a lightning-shortened 4-0 win at Byron-Bergen to finish 16-0 and enter the Section V playoffs as the top seed in their division. They were also ranked ninth in Class C by the New York State Sportswriters Association as of October 13, but one of only two unbeaten teams among the top ten in the Class.
The first 19 minutes of the first half were relatively evenly played before the Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 19:49 as Taylor ReQua passed to Maya Rutland, whose attempt deflected off a defender and changed direction before crossing the goal-line.
In the 33rd minute, the same two Eagles teamed up again as ReQua found Rutland on the left side of the scoring area. Her blast from 20 yards out found the upper right corner for a 2-0 lead.
Byron-Bergen’s best scoring opportunity came in the 37th minute as Morgan Fuller fed a pass to Kelsey Fuller, but her point-blank shot was saved by Kendall goalkeeper Jenna Jacob.
With a storm looming after halftime, Kendall added to their lead just 1:29 into the second half when Taylor Rutland converted a pass from Coralee Freitag.
Maya Rutland then completed her third hat trick of the season at 43:03 when she put her shot in off the left goal post after a pass from Freitag.
The game was delayed and ultimately suspended 5:55 into the second half due to lightning.
Rutland’s other two hat tricks came on September 29 at Notre Dame and October 5 – her birthday – against Attica.
Kendall only allowed two goals all season and none since September 24. They enter the postseason on a seven game-plus shutout streak.
Byron-Bergen finished second in the division with a 9-6-1 record and seeded eight in Class C1. Kendall was seeded first in Class C2 and awaited the first round winner of #8 Campbell-Savona versus #9 Red Jacket.
