The Providence girls soccer team broke a 1-1 tie by scoring the final four goals of the first half, then added three goals in the second half for an 8-1 win over Trinity Lutheran Monday night on the Cougars’ field.
Brooklyn Stemle gave the visitors a 1-0 lead at the 29:16 mark in the first half.
Trinity senior Kailene Cockerham raced toward the goal left of center and scored off a left-footed kick with 24 minutes remaining for a 1-1 tie. That was Cockerham’s school-record 42nd career goal.
Providence then scored four times over the final 21:30, including a goal at the buzzer for a 5-1 lead at the half.
The Pioneers dominated the ball for most of the first half by shooting 18 times to three for the Cougars.
Trinity coach Thom Hayes said he told his team to become more aggressive with the ball in the second half.
“In the second half they got a little more physical which we definitely needed,” Hayes said. “This is a team that plays physical and you’ve got to match that or they’re just going to have their way with you.”
Molly Richards’ second goal of the match put Providence up 6-1 with 28:24 remaining, and the Pioneers held a 7-1 advantage before Sarah Lemming attempted two shots in a span of seven minutes to display some of that aggressiveness that Hayes was looking for.
Lemming had all three of Trinity’s shots in the second half. The Pioneers outshot the Cougars 33-6 for the match.
“In the second half I got us to stay compact more, and quit chasing the ball outside because they’re too skilled to do that,” Hayes said. “They’ll put it right back in the middle then you’re outnumbered.
“We did more of that. We’re young, we made some big mistakes and that led to them getting some pretty easy goals. I think if we just button those up as the season goes along we’re going to get a lot better on defense.”
Trinity goalie Samantha Enzinger had 14 saves, and Hayes said, “I’m happy the way the goalie played although she worked way harder than she should have. I hope we work on that and she gets less saves. We gave them too many shots in the open field.”
Hayes said if the Cougars can do a better job of controlling the ball and midfield, the shot attempts will be a lot more even.
“That’s going to start with keeping them off our defensive end,” he said. “I saw some very good ball movement between my two forwards and Emma Myers at center midfield, so if we can give them more opportunities on the offensive side of the field they’ll be able to move the ball and get some opportunities.”
Trinity will host Milan at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.