Junior Mina Agajan kicks Ardrey Kell girls soccer past Ballantyne Ridge, 1-0
At the beginning of the season, Ardrey Kell coach Kim Montgomery and her Knights were certain they could make a run for a fourth state championship appearance in five years.
They were returning a large portion of the 2025 state finalists, including all-state star Makayla Rodriguez. But when Rodriguez went down with a season-ending knee injury in the fourth game of the year, Ardrey Kell — which had started the season unbeaten — went 0-2-2.
“We had to a little soul searching,” Montgomery said.
Since then, however, Ardrey Kell has started to figure out a way to win without Rodriguez, who scored 29 goals to go with 15 assists last season. Tuesday’s 1-0 win over conference rival Ballantyne Ridge, sparked by junior Mina Agajan’s goal with 19 minutes left, gave the Knights (13-4-3, 6-1) a one-game lead over Ballantyne (10-8, 6-2) with three games left and well within reach of a sixth straight conference championship.
“We can win with this team,” said Montgomery, a former NC State soccer star named one of the best ACC women’s players of all time. “Our locker room is amazing and our seniors are amazing. It’s really hard for us. We lost Makayla and she’s such an amazing player and goal-scorer, so we’ve had to really step up and find different ways to score. But it’s anybody’s game when you get into the playoffs, and this team is built on standards.”
When Ballantyne Ridge upset Montgomery’s Knights, 1-0, last month, Montgomery said the Wolves packed their defense in tight around the goal, hoping for a run-out goal or a tie. Ballantyne tried that scheme again Tuesday, and Ardrey Kell dominated possession, keeping the ball on the Wolves’ side of field for more than 75 of the game’s 80 minutes.
But shot after shot after shot missed. Most were high.
“I feel like they had pretty decent goalkeeper,” said Ardrey Kell senior Kelley Tarpley, the team’s leading scorer. “I feel like she was good in the air. But we finally found a way out of it and we were able to play it on the ground, which ultimately got us the win.”
On Agajan’s goal, the ball was bounced around in a flurry of activity near the Ballantyne goal. The Wolves’ goalie deflected a shot attempt and the bounce bounced away, right in front of Agajan, who sent it through.
“It was frustrating, actually super frustrating” to play against that style of defense, Montgomery said, “but you’ve got to know how to play against everybody and all kinds of systems. And we were able to keep our energy up and just keep going after it in the second half. And it was great putting it in like that, especially for Mina. She’s been been working so hard, and for her to pop that ball in, on Senior Night, it was just amazing.”
Agajan said she was just trying to stay calm when she saw the ball coming her way — with the Ballantyne Ridge goalie lying on the ground.
“I saw it,” she said, “and I was just trying to stay calm, and trying to not kick it over the goal.”
