The Thomas Jefferson Raiders boys soccer team was victorious over the Kent-Meridian Royals with a 1-0 win on April 12 at Federal Way High School.

“I’m proud of the boys for weathering the storm. Obviously happy with the win,” said Raider Head Coach Josh Hauck

The Raiders’ record now sits at 5-3-2 on the season and the team has won its second game in a row for the first time this season. In the month of April, Thomas Jefferson has yet to lose a game going 3-0-1.

This is the fourth 1-0 victory the Raiders have had this season “We do it together. Other teams might rely on one player to score all their goals but it takes all of us right now,” Hauck said.

As it stands, after beating Kent-Meridian and Auburn Riverside in back-to-back games, the Raiders are one point behind Auburn Riverside for first place in the 3A NPSL.

During the game against the Royals, Thomas Jefferson was on their heels for the entire first half.

“I felt like we took a step back in how we wanted to play today. But all in all, getting the result is the most important thing,” Hauck said.

Outside of an early shot from senior Pedro Monge-Munoz the Raiders never controlled possession and were battling with the Royals in the mid-field areas.

As halftime neared closer and closer the Royals continued to put pressure on the Raiders, but the back line held strong and kept Kent-Meridian off the scoreboard.

“In the first half we all seemed tired… The first half was horrible,” said senior Izayah Bermudez.

The second half was more of the same, Kent-Meridian continued to put pressure on the Raiders. They controlled possession but the back line never allowed the Royals to get an easy look on net.

There was a need for a spark for the Raiders and it was something the players had to find themselves, “We needed to run faster, we needed to work harder, we needed to want it more than them,” Hauck said.

The play of the game came in the second half when the Royals keeper made a game-changing mistake picking the ball up outside of the 18-yard box. Granting Cal State Bakersfield commit Monge-Munoz a golden opportunity.

“In the second half we knew we needed to do better and take advantage of set pieces,” Bermudez said.

Monge-Munoz took the 20-yard penalty kick and hit the right post. With the goalie already committed, the rebound found the right foot of Izayah Bermudez. Bermudez sent the ball into the back of the net and in the 69’ minute the Raiders took a 1-0 lead.

He got in the right spot with a little personal intuition. “I predicted it (the deflection), ” Bermudez said.

Kent-Meridian continued to try and crack the Raider defense but amounted to nothing.

The Raiders have six clean sheets, which puts them first in 3A in shutouts and ties them with Tahoma for most in NPSL. Overall the Raiders are tied for second with Kentwood in the goals allowed category with 0.8 over 10 games this year.

“I’m proud of the clean sheets, we have one of the least goals allowed. We learned we all need to step back and defend as a team and lately we’ve been doing that,” Bermudez said.

The Raiders take on Auburn April 18, at Federal Way High School with kick-off at 5 p.m. Of the remaining four opponents the Raiders face, only one has a win this season. That team being Auburn Mountainview (4-6-0), the other three have yet to win and total six draws between them.

“As long as we’re playing well and finding the results. I’m going to be happy at the end of the day,” Coach Hauck said.