After losing to the Notre Dame High School Regents last year, varsity girls soccer struck back on Dec. 13 with persistent offensive plays for an overpowering 7-0 victory.

Only a few minutes into the first half, the Mustangs, who were in possession of the ball, smoothly passed it around, quickly outmaneuvering the Regents’ defensive players. Defender, senior Emma Moser headed the ball off a corner kick, and it soared past the Regents’ goalie, swishing into the net for the first point of the game. 

After the high-energy start and another goal by center forward, junior Saara Lahtela, offensive pressure started to wane, center forward and winger, freshman Jaina Nguyen said. 

“We had a lot of moments,” Nguyen said. “We were just shooting to the goalie a lot. We were doing well opportunity-wise, but just needed to finish those opportunities.”

Going into the second half with a score of 2-0, the Mustangs began using more tactical strategies to score, outside back, senior Alaina Harlow said.

“We knew we could play better and take more shots,” Harlow said. “We needed to pick the corners [of the goal] when we shot the ball, so that the goalie couldn’t reach it. So, we did that in the second half, and that’s why we did better.”

Using this technique, the Mustangs scored five goals in the second half, three of which were scored in the last 10 minutes. The ball rarely entered the Mustangs’ side of the field, as the midfielders and defenders maintained a tight barricade.

Despite the intensity of the Mustangs’ offense, the Regents could not keep up the same effort. With a gapped defensive line and an offense struggling to approach the Mustangs’ goalie, the Regents failed to block Nguyen and Lahtela from scoring repeatedly. 

The Regents quickly grew frustrated, taking a brief pause to allow their goalie to regain her composure. The shift in spirit was largely due to the referee’s rulings of fouls, which were perceived as favoring the Mustangs, even eliciting frustrated responses from the crowd, Nguyen said.

“The ref was calling a lot of fouls on them,” Nguyen said. “They were so upset, but I think that because they were so upset, it got in their own heads. They kind of shut down, and they just stopped playing [with full effort].”

Overall, the Mustangs put forth their best team effort throughout the game, Harlow said. While they took goofy, victorious images following their 7-0 win, they left with a resonant “Good game, Notre Dame.”