FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - The Starr’s Mill girls soccer team kept rolling along on Wednesday.
Riley Clark scored a hat trick and the defending Class AAAAA state champion Panthers moved a step closer to a repeat with a 4-0 victory over Heritage in the Sweet 16.
Starr’s Mill, ranked No. 1 by eurosportscoreboard.com, has won six consecutive games (five by-shutout) and moved to 18-2 overall.
Heritage, in the state playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, finished 13-7.
It was just a two-goal game at halftime, but Clark and her teammates opened things up a bit during the early stages of the second half.
Clark had a shot saved by Heritage keeper Kylie Kersh about four minutes into the half. Kersh wasn’t as lucky 7 1/2 minutes later when Clark scored from about 20 yards out to put Starr’s Mill in front 3-0.
Clark completed the hat trick at the 28:09 mark when Lauren Yoss sent a perfect ball out in front of the net and Clark had a beautiful header for a goal and a 4-0 advantage.
While Clark was taking care of the offensive side of things, the Panthers’ defense didn’t allow a shot on goal.
Heritage’s best chance came at the 17:10 mark of the second half when Emily Kimpling was fouled, leading to a free kick that eventually led to Kimpling being wide with a shot.
Starr’s Mill spent a majority of the opening half on Heritage’s end of the field, and an offensive push finally led to the first goal of the game.
Leslie Logan received a pass and at the 15:46 mark beat Kersh with a shot from about 15 yards and the hosts grabbed the lead for the remainder of the night.
About 14 1/2 minutes later, Kersh came out to play a ball and the gamble didn’t pay off as Clark blasted her first goal into the open net and the Panthers went up 2-0.
Before that, the Panthers had a flurry of scoring opportunities, including a number of chances during a seven-second span.
Lauren Yoss had the first chance, but Kersh made a kick save at the 24:15 mark. The ball remained deep in Heritage’s end, though and Kersh knocked away an attempt by Logan, then Clark was high with the rebound.
In between goals, Kersh made a diving save of a Clark shot with just under eight minutes to go until halftime.
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