DENVER, IN. - The time was coming! The LaVille girls soccer team was just biding their time until that first win of the season would happen. On Wednesday, the Lancer squad got off to a quick start, scoring two goals in the first four minutes of the match, and finished up with an 8-0 victory over North Miami. "We really wanted to get out and score early," said LaVille coach Brandon Shafer. "When you play a team that you feel you should win against, it’s important to get a fast start. The longer you let a team hang around, the more confidence they get that they can pull off an upset. We got two goals quick and then found ourselves a little too relaxed and spent close to 10 minutes playing defense. Luckily we flipped the momentum back our way." Ready to attack the North Miami defense, Reagan Mitchell found Mikalah Kuskye for the first Lancer goal in the first minute of play. Continuing to push the tempo and attack the goal, Mitchell took a pass from Kuskye to give LaVille a 2-0 lead just four minutes into the match. The match pace settled a bit until later in the first half when the Lancer offense went to work again. Kuskye found the net at the 23rd minute and the 33rd minute to raise the ante to 4-0. "Mikalah netted a hat trick on two close range goals and a nice shot just under the crossbar from 30 yards out," said Shafer. "Reagan Mitchell poked one through the keeper’s legs from 10 yards." LaVille showed some offensive depth in the second half as four different LHS players found the net. Kylah Bell, London Kwiatkowski, Lauren Edison, and Rylie Aschenbrenner scored goals to help cement Coach Shafer's first career victory as the head girls coach. "Rylie and Lauren, who typically play defense, scored for us," said Shafer. "It was good to see those two score."It’s always a good day when that many players find the net," continued Shafer. "We’ve only scored 3 goals in 6 games leading up to this one. It was really important that we built some confidence for the next stretch of games." Shafer shifted from the boys program to the girls program to begin the 2022 season. "Due to some injuries, we had to make some lineup changes," explained Shafer. "Wanting to find the net early, we knew that Mikalah could accomplish that. But moving her forward meant not having her control the midfield. London Kwiatkowski did a great job of filling that role." Even though this was the first 'W' of the season, LaVille has played a solid schedule to open the 2022 season. "We’ve played against some very talented, large schools that would have taken a monumental effort to defeat," said Shafer. "This was a game we expected to win. This was our opportunity to gain some momentum into the second half of the season." Each of the Lancer losses have come against teams with a winning record so far in 2022 - South Bend Adams, Elkhart, Mishawaka, and Goshen. The defense also came up big, allowing just one shot on goal for the match. "Even when you’re up by 4 at the half and have firm control of a game, as a coach you’re always finding ways to continue to challenge the team," explained Shafer. "We got sloppy with the ball towards the end of the half. We asked them to clean that up. We also challenged them to keep the shutout. Even though players would be moving into different positions, we wanted to keep that goose egg on the board. It was fun to move some defenders forward to score some goals and still keep the shutout. From goalkeeper to the forwards we need to defend as a team. We kept them pinned on their own half for almost all of the second half."It’s always a good day when that 0 in the win column gets replaced," continued Shafer. "But the team, and the coaches, aren’t satisfied with 1 win. We will continue to work on the fundamentals to be the best we can be in October. We’ve got two sectional opponents next week in Argos and Trinity and Culver the week after. We’ve also tied Bremen in a game we feel we should have won. So, we’ve got to show up and compete the next few weeks and let our opponents know that we will be a threat in October." * * * * LAVILLE 8, NORTH MIAMI 0 LaVille 4 4 – 8 North Miami 0 0 – 0 Scoring Summary LV – Mikalah Kuyskye (Reagan Mitchell), 1st minute LV – Mitchell (Kuskye), 4th LV – Kuskye, 23rd LV – Kuskye, 33rd LV – Kylah Bell (Lauren Edison), 58th LV – London Kwiatkowski (Edison), 67th LV – Edison, 70th LV – Rylie Aschenbrenner, 74th Shots On Goal: LaVille 25, North Miami 1 Corner Kicks: LaVille 12, North Miami 1 Goalie Saves: LaVille (Heaylyn Kwiatkowski) 1, North Miami (Lindsey Pugh) 17