Kenton tops Crestview in regular season finale

By SEAN BLEVINS

Times sports editor

CONVOY — The Kenton girls soccer team accomplished what they set out to do in the 2024 regular season.

With a dominant 3-0 win at Convoy Crestview on Thursday, the Wildcats (6-10-1) have six times as many wins as they had all of last season.

Kenton senior midfielder Emma Hougendobler netted the first goal and freshman forward Jadynn Byers had a second-half brace in an impressive effort that saw her earn Kenton Times Woman of the Match honors.

“Ending the regular season with six wins is great,” second-year Kenton coach Toby Brown said. “Ultimately, this is a good way to finish the season going into the playoffs with Bryan on Wednesday. I think we started a little slow in the first half, probably rushed a few things. At the end of the day we got it together and found the back of the net two more times in the second half.”

Kenton was the aggressor from the start. Hougendobler launched a 30-yard shot at the 37:30 mark of the first half that was easily scooped up by Crestview’s goalkeeper.

Wildcat junior midfielder Addy Haudenschield played it up to junior defender/forward Reese McKinniss, who sent a cross into the 6-yard box that ended up going untouched in the fifth minute. Freshman forward Ellie Minter almost got a foot on it.

Hougendobler delivered a long throw-in for Minter to run up to and it eventually led to a 20-yard shot from senior midfielder Kinze Sprang that was bobbled near the goal line by Crestview’s goalkeeper with 31:50 to play in the first half.

The Wildcats finally broke through when Minter delivered a nice through ball to Hougendobler for a perfectly-placed diagonal laser that went in top right to go up 1-0 with 30:37 left in the first half.

“That was a great shot by Emma on that first goal. In the second half we moved Kinze to the outside and left Emma on the inside and I think that opened up some stuff for Kinze,” Brown said.

McKinniss sent a through ball to Minter in the 14th minute, but Minter couldn’t convert on the breakaway attempt.

Crestview’s goalkeeper made a tough fingertip grab on a high shot from point-blank range taken by Byers in the 37th minute.

The Crestview goalkeeper prevented more damage with another save on a Minter 1-on-1 breakaway just 55 seconds into the second half.

Crestview sophomore forward Ella Lamb nearly tied the game at 1-1 in the 43rd minute, but sent her shot just over the crossbar on a breakaway.

Kenton senior goalkeeper Ruby Styer dove and deflected a shot by Crestview junior forward Ellie Ward out of bounds for a corner kick with 28:10 left in the second half. The ensuing corner kick was sent across goal and if a Crestview player gets a touch on it, it probably would have gone in.

A Crestview defender whiffed while trying to boot the ball up the field and Minter took off with the ball for a breakaway before shanking a shot wide from 12 yards out in the 58th minute.

Byers was in the right spot at the right time and smacked a shot from 15 yards out into the bottom left for a 2-0 lead with 19:33 left in the second half.

Hougendobler brought a bouncing ball down and tried a left-footed shot that narrowly missed wide left from 20 yards out with 13:40 remaining in the game.

On Kenton’s third goal, Sprang originally sent a corner kick near the penalty spot area and bounced right back out to her. Sprang then made a few cuts to shake a couple defenders and sent a cross in front of the net that was tapped in by Byers with 7:18 on the clock.

“One of the things we talked about at halftime was bringing the ball across the middle. And then Kinze plays that ball across the middle and Jadynn finishes it. When you play the ball across the middle, you get the defense coming at the goal and that’s exactly what happened. Would’ve liked to have seen us capitalize on a few more chances. But we feel pretty good about getting the win and finishing on a high note,” Brown said.

Sprang finishes the regular season with a team-best seven goals and 10 assists. Minter recorded six goals and two assists. Byers bagged five goals. Haudenschield and Hougendobler both had four goals and one assist. McKinniss scored two goals. Seniors Kyla Bostater and Mia Musser each had one goal, while Chloe Hattery dished out one assist.

Styer has recorded 103 saves in goal, with the Wildcats conceding just 44 goals on the year. That is substantially lower than the 97 goals they allowed last year.

Kenton got the fifth seed in the Division IV Ottawa district and will travel to take on fourth-seeded Bryan Wednesday at 6 p.m. for a sectional title.