Pair of second-half goals push Kankakee past Beecher 2-0

BEECHER − Last season, Beecher finished a game above Kankakee in the Southland Athletic Conference standings. When the two teams met in Beecher on Wednesday, Kankakee was looking to stay in first place in the 2025 standings.

The Kays were 7-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play coming into Wednesday’s game, and thanks to second half goals from Raquel Guevara and Malea Harrison, kept that unbeaten record intact with a 2-0 win. Beecher fell to 8-8 (3-3) with the loss.

The win kept Kankakee ahead of Bloom (11-2, 5-1) in the standings, who the Kays beat 2-1 on April 16. Sophomore midfielder Stacy Calva, who played major minutes for the Kays on Wednesday, said the team hopes to stay in the top spot.

“This was our goal, we said ‘we need to win conference,’” she said. “Right before this game we were like ‘guys, we need to lock in.’ We just locked in and proud of everybody. Everyday showed up and everybody gave 100%. We’re not done yet, but we’re going to keep pushing forward.”

The Kays and Bobcats were evenly matched from the start, with both teams coming up empty on early chances to go into halftime in a scoreless tie.

Beecher’s Grace Durante had a couple of shots go just wide of the net and a couple others sent away by Kankakee’s Ana Lopez. The Kays’ best chance came after a steal by Harrison, who took a shot that glanced off the crossbar just above the outstretched arms of Beecher’s Mikenna Burdick.

Kankakee head coach Vincent Mkhwanazi said he was happy to see the team stick with their approach after Beecher held them off the scoreboard for the first 40 minutes.

“It was very difficult breaking [Beecher] down,” he said. “They’re very disciplined and you could tell they were following the coach’s instructions and game plan that was put forth. The girls had to just keep going, keep going, trusting and doing the same correct thing again and again.”

They finally broke through with 26:26 to go in the second half when Guevara slipped between a pair of defenders and converted on a wide-open shot. Harrison found the back of the net on a cross from Jocelyn Sanchez 10 minutes later.

Beecher’s Braelynn Scanlan nearly got Beecher on the board with about 13 minutes to go, but her shot sailed just high as the last solid chance for the Bobcats.

Sophomore defender Regina Vazquez-Vargas helped anchor the defense in the shutout win, and said the team has done a good job improving on that side of the ball.

“I think we worked really hard in practices to get to the point we’re at now,” she said. “I’m really proud of us because we’ve really learned a lot from each other.”

Beecher has now faced the other six teams in the Southland once this season. They and Momence are the only two Class 1A schools in the conference, and Kypuros said he just wants to keep seeing the team play well against these larger programs as they look to build up momentum by the time the postseason comes around.

“One thing with this conference come playoff time is Bloom is going to be in the 3A playoffs, Thornwood will be in the 3A playoffs, Kankakee will be in the 2A playoffs, and we’ll be over in the 1A playoffs,” he said. “To me what’s most important is that we continue to get better and we make those games competitive. When we’re hanging in with schools of that size, conference game or not, and we’re playing against opponents in higher classes and we’re making them competitive, it’s a good thing.”

As for the Kays, Mkhwanazi said he feels like the team has really started to settle in. They have won five of their last six games after taking a couple of close losses prior to that stretch.

“We’ve definitely started to embrace the identity of who we are and what we’re doing,” he said. “The belief is there. Their ability to adjust has been phenomenal.”