The Royals were handed their eighth loss in eight games by the Minnetonka Skippers. The Skippers controlled the game, winning by a final score of 18-6.

The beginning of the game showed promise for the Royals, as they were within 3 goals at halftime. However, the Skippers stayed true to their season trend by dominating the second half of the game. The Skippers are now outscoring their opponents 101-50.

Unfortunately for the Royals, it was another story of poor transition defense, leading to odd man situations for Minnetonka.

“The midfielders not dropping in quick enough really hindered our defense for this game,” said Dennis Plotkin, senior defender.

The odd man situations were simply too much for the Hopkins defenders to handle. They held their own well in the first half, but the second is where Minnetonka began to capitalize.

“The close defenders did a really good job in this game,” Plotkin said. “Where we really struggled was scoring on offense and our midfielder’s defense.”

The Royals will now look to their next opponent, Holy Family, in an effort to match their regular season record of last year (4-9).

The Royals play Holy Family on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Holy Family High School.