The Penn girls soccer team clinched a state-record 17th consecutive sectional championship by beating Northern Indiana Conference archrival South Bend St. Joseph on a last-minute goal by Malaika Waithaka. The Kingsmen went into the game with a 15-5 record and ranked 12th in the state while Saint Joe had a 9-7-2 record and was just outside the top twenty rankings.
The first half was dominated by Penn as they controlled much of the possession. In the 24th minute, junior forward Anika Guenther tapped in the ball from freshman forward Emily Keegan to give the Kingsmen the lead.
In the second half, St. Joe came out hungry and traded chances with the Kingsmen. With a ball over the defense in the 20th minute, St. Joe found the back of the net for the equalizer.
The Kingsmen weren’t done yet and couldn’t be stopped as they fought to keep their season alive. With 1:03 left in the half senior midfielder and captain Waithaka made a move at the top of the box and slotted it home just underneath the St. Joe keeper for the Kingsmen to secure the dramatic win.
With the Penn win it avenged a 1-0 regular season loss that was just two weeks before and also added to the state-record 17 consecutive sectionals championships.
