Brooke Barnes notched a brace Monday night to lead Ripon Christian past visiting Denair 4-1 in a Southern Athletic League varsity doubleheader.
Denair won the boys game in the nightcap, 1-0.
“I was a little bit nervous because I had heard that they had improved,” Barnes said. “I didn’t really remember them, so I was excited for today.”
“We came out a little rough but we straightened it out,” Koolhaas said. “There was a lot of communication that needed to be done, and luckily the entire team was able to step up and into that role and we got it done.
“Our defense had an amazing game, especially Ellie Kowes. She has been so great this season, and she came out and wanted to win this one, and the girls on the other team were so fast.”
Alana Blanco gave the Knights a 3-1 lead before Barnes capped the day’s scoring.
Ripon Christian did not score for 15 minutes to start the game, and Knights coach David Morris was not happy with the slow start.
“By our standards, we started pretty slow,” Morris said. “But we controlled the game. The only goal we gave up was on a PK.
“We owned the midfield and did what we were supposed to do. As the game went on, we just started passing better and better and better.”
Ripon Christian wraps up the regular season at Mariposa this afternoon at 3:30 before awaiting playoff seeding for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs which begin Saturday night.
In the boys game, Denair (10-1-2 SAL, 19-5-2 overall) scored in the opening seconds of the second half.
The Coyotes worked the ball to Justin Hernandez, who drew Knights goalie David Koolhaas out of the frame and lofted the ball into the net for the game’s only score.
“It was a throw-in where we were not marking tight, and they got a through ball through,” Ripon Christian coach Danny Koolhaas said. “The goalie made the right decision to come out. We always talk about being aggressive and coming out to take away an angle, and the kid lofted it over him for a good goal. There was nothing he could have done.
“We lost to Denair 7-0 the first time we played them in league. Fast forward to now, and to hold the second-place team to one goal was good. We had four good chances to their two, and for us being a young team we have to make one of those.”
Despite outshooting the Knights (3-8-2, 6-14-3) 12-6, with nine of those 12 shots on frame, the Coyotes could never pull away and Ripon Christian was always in the game and had some good looks toward the end of the second half.
“It was a really good match,” Denair coach Antonio Padilla said. “It could have gone either way. They were good competition and played really hard.
“I am proud of both teams.”
David Koolhaas tallied eight saves for Ripon Christian.
The Knights wrap their season up today on the road in Mariposa at 5 p.m.
