Alina Mkhwanazi’s stellar debut season hit a new high point in Kankakee’s 8-4 win over Beecher on Wednesday.

A first-half hat trick wasn’t enough for the freshman forward. She added three more goals for the Kays (9-1-1, 5-0 Southland Athletic) in the second half, finishing with six and outscoring the Bobcats (9-4-1, 3-2) on her own.

Alongside fellow freshman Yailen Torres and senior Jocelyn Sanchez, who each added one goal Wednesday, Mkhwanazi had emerged as a serious scoring threat on a Kankakee offense that is averaging 7.6 goals per game so far this season.

She said some familiarity with her varsity teammates has helped her and her fellow newcomers hit the ground running and reinforce the team’s more-experienced players.

“It feels great to score six and have all the opportunities for it,” Mkhwanazi said. “It’s not a lot to adapt to for me because I used to play with this girls at younger ages and when we’d play in the summertime, so we all know how to adapt to each other.

“...It’s just like we’ve finally connected with the pieces we needed from last year.”

Mkhwanazi scored just over a minute into the game Wednesday, but that lead only lasted about 10 minutes.

Beecher’s All-State scoring machine Grace Durante, coming off a 56-goal junior season, scored a pair of goals 77 seconds apart to put the Bobcats up 2-1, and that score held until Kankakee’s Torres tied things up 2-2 with 11:46 to go in the half.

Mkhwanazi added two goals and Sanchez had one over the next 10 minutes before Beecher’s Ava Gaidar made it a 5-3 game on a free kick with 1:17 to go until the break.

Mkhwanazi scored again two minutes into the second half, and after Durante got her third goal midway through the half, Mkhwanazi added two more to finish off the game.

“I think [Mkhwanazi] is a selfless player,” Kankakee assistant coach Khendal Andrews said. “When you’re a selfless player and you’re willing to give as well as get, that elevates your game.”

Led by Durante, Beecher scored the second-most goals of any team against Kankakee so far in 2026. The Kays came into Wednesday with six shutouts in 10 games and an average of 1.1 goals allowed per game.

Freshman defender Rachel Sanchez-Aguilar, who has been another standout newcomer for the Kays, said she felt the team did a good job digging in after a tough start to allow just one goal in the second half.

“All we had to do was keep our heads up and talk to each other about the few mistakes we made,” she said. “Even though we had a lot of pressure on his, we still had a way to battle back and try to win everything from the back line to the front.”

Someone who has been enjoying the success of her freshmen teammates is the senior captain Jocelyn Sanchez.

As a four-year starter and 100-goal scorer, she said it is nice to be able to call back on her own experience as a freshman starter.

“Compared to my freshman year, I was definitely very emotional coming home after every game and thinking what I could do better,” she said. “Now that I’m seen as a leader, I can talk to them and be like ‘hey, it’s okay and you’re recognizing you’re making that mistake. Use it to get better.’

“...I’m just really glad they can come up to me for anything.”

Beecher is another team that has plenty of veteran experience to lean on. Seniors Durante, Gaidar and Teagan Claus and juniors Braelynn Scanlon and Elaina Kelly and are all back after being the team’s five points leaders last season.

While injuries left the Bobcats a bit shorthanded Wednesday, and with active players that were a bit banged up, head coach Jon Kypuros said he was happy with how they fought against a tough opponent.

“We had a couple of last-minute injuries pop up on us,” he said. “On the fly, and without any time to train on it, we went with a different formation and had some girls in different positions than they’ve been playing all season. I thought they adjusted well.

“...It’s refreshing having a team with this many seniors, so the new ones that are thrust into new positions and playing time have that to lean on.”