Throughout her four years of varsity soccer, Kankakee senior Jocelyn Sanchez has helped usher in a major paradigm shift of the All-City girls soccer landscape.

In her first two seasons, the Kays lost all four of their All-City matches to Bishop McNamara and Bradley-Bourbonnais by a combined 27-goal margin.

Kankakee beat Bishop McNamara last season but fell to the Boilermakers to come up just short of an All-City title.

Saturday, Sanchez had three goals and an assist to lead the Kays (5-0-1) to an 8-0 home win over Bishop McNamara (0-4). After a 2-2 tie against Bradley-Bourbonnais on March 27, the win clinched Kankakee a share of its first-ever All-City title.

“I’m very proud of the girls compared to those years where these teams have beaten us so much,” she said. “I feel like we played with a purpose, and our purpose was just to play well. We didn’t really care about the score, and the thing was just to play as a team. I think we accomplished that. We moved the ball around and played beautiful soccer.”

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All-City Girls Soccer: Kankakee vs. Bishop McNamara Kankakee's Jocelyn Sanchez advances to score a goal during the Kays' 8-0 victory over Bishop McNamara in the final All-City match on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (Tiffany Blanchette)

There was also a family connection that helped the Kays finish off their All-City slate with a win over the Fightin’ Irish with freshman Alina Mkhwanazi, daughter of head coach Vincent Mkhwanazi, also scoring three goals.

Alina Mkhwanazi said she’s glad to be able to follow in her dad’s footsteps with the sport they both love, and now have him as head coach at the high school level.

“It’s great, and he really pushes me to the limit,” she said. “Soccer means everything to us. Where my dad came from in South Africa, that was his ticket out. Soccer is going to be my ticket, and I see it as a key and a gateway to different opportunities.”

Vincent Mkhwanazi first came to the states to play soccer at Olivet Nazarene University.

The opportunity to coach his daughter at the varsity level a few miles down the road is something he said he truly appreciates.

“It’s fun and exciting, just finding the difference between the dad role and coach role,” he said. “We get to talk about games, we get to talk about improvements. It’s fun to see her out there playing, and she’s invested a lot of time just like everyone else. We’ll see what the years have to bring.”

Alina Mkhwanazi is one of three freshman starting for the Kays this season.

Fellow freshman Yailen Torres scored the remaining two goals for the team Saturday while Rachel Sanchez-Aguilar has helped anchor a defense that didn’t allow a shot on goal to the Fightin’ Irish and has four shutouts in six games.

These younger players have quickly emerged as key pieces for a team looking for a second regional title in three years, fitting in nicely with experienced returners like Sanchez and juniors Regina Vazquez-Vargas and Stacy Calva.

“It’s a good blend, a balanced blend,” Vincent Mkhwanazi said of his freshman trio. “One is a central defender who is able to hold it down, and you’ve got Alina and Yailen on the offensive end that are able to complement that hard work. These three freshman coming in this year have definitely played a huge role.”

Bishop McNamara is also working some younger players into the lineup this season, and a challenging early season schedule has certainly made that process tougher.

The Irish have played Herscher, Peotone and Kankakee, which have a combined record of 17-3-1 so far, as well as a Class 3A Bradley-Bourbonnais team that’s gone 6-3-1 in its first 10 matches.

This tough competition has not allowed the Irish to get rolling offensively, but head coach Dave Kruse said he thought the team looked strong defensively for much of Saturday’s game, bolstered by goalkeeper Kaneyce Davis and her 16 saves.

With a few players set to return from injury soon, including senior captain Ellen Ehrman, who was out Saturday, Kruse thinks the Irish can start to put more things together.

“Right now, we’ve been forced into focusing on our defense,” he said. “In the next couple games we get a couple key players back, and Ellen comes back, which is going to be a huge help for us offensively. I’m really hoping we can start to focus on our offensive side and start to get some goals I know we can get.”