Girls soccer: Jacobs gets offense on track at Hampshire

With already one blemish on its Fox Valley Conference slate, Jacobs knew a win against host Hampshire Tuesday afternoon was a needed commodity.

In convincing fashion, the Lady Eagles got the job done.

Scoring 5 first-half goals, Jacobs was able to move 1-1 in FVC action cruising to a 7-0 win.

Jacobs lifted its overall record to 7-6-1.

"We have had trouble scoring goals," said Jacobs coach Colin Brice. "One of our goals is to win the FVC. We didn't want to go to 0-2 so this was a huge win. We came out with great focus and were able to play with the lead beginning to end. We have a lot of dangerous attackers who are capable of scoring goals. It was a good overall team effort."

Jacobs spread the offensive wealth in the first half with 5 different players finding the nets.

Hannah Mohan, who contributed 3 assists, Cassandra Voss, Dominique Anderson, Baylee Vincent and Liz Schwartz all scored goals during the decisive first 40 minutes.

Jacobs outshot Hampshire 22-5 in the first half and 27-9 in the game.

Vincent and Anderson also added insurance tallies in the second half.

"We knew this was a must win game if we want to have any chance to win the conference," said Vincent. "We had tremendous focus from beginning to end and we wanted the shutout. It was important to play with the lead. We know anybody on our team can score. I got good shots for my goals because of my teammates. We have been struggling scoring goals this season so this was a really good game for us to break out of our scoring slump."

Hampshire (1-5-5, 1-2 FVC) got its best chance to score with only 25 seconds elapsed in the second half.

Lara Delaca broke through the Jacobs defense and hammered a close in shot on goal but Jacobs goalie Lindsey Cepa made a diving save to preserve the shutout.

Cepa registered 9 saves for the Eagles while Livia LaMarca pushed away 18 shots for the Whip-Purs while backup goalie Maisee McNamara had 2 saves.

Hampshire won its first FVC game in 7 years with a victory over McHenry earlier in the season.

"We played with so many nerves in the first half and battled uphill," said Hampshire coach Javier Rojo. "Jacobs came out so aggressive and were very physical. We were not able to match their intensity. We played so much better in the second half and got better scoring chances. We attained our goal of winning a conference game and today was a learning experience for us. We play Crystal Lake Central Thursday and want to keep getting better."