Judge Memorial’s play ahead of its Class 3A girls soccer state tournament game was to try and score early and often to put away Richfield.
That did not happen, but the Bulldogs’ offense was able to get clicking eventually, leading to a 6-0 victory against the Wildcats in the first-round contest.
“We had plenty of shots that were getting blocked. They kind of parked the bus defensively at the start and I don’t think we really were prepared to have as much space as we did,” Judge Memorial coach Scott Platz said.
Judge put the pressure on Ridgeview early, constantly peppering the Wildcat goal with shots. And aside from a few early chances, Richfield’s offense was no match for Judge Memorial, which finally broke through in the 34th minute. The first goal came from McKayla Murchinson, who was in the middle of the penalty box when a pass came through for her to sneak past the goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead.
Richfield’s defense did all they could to stay in the game and kept it a one-goal deficient until midway through the second half, which is when things began to unravel as Judge scored five times in an 11-minute span.
The onslaught was led by Sophia Ewing and Killian Lamanna, as each scored two goals apiece. Ewing scored in the 62nd and 72nd minute, and Lamanna finding the back of the night in the 69th and 75th. With victory secured, Judge got its sixth goal of the game in the 78th minute from Jillian Nelson.
“It was really exciting to win and be able to move on to the next round. We wanted to score early in the game to get the offensive going. It took us awhile to get that to happen but eventually in the second half the goals kept coming,” Ewing said.
While he feels his team came out a little flat to start the game, Platz likes where his team is at as they move on in the tournament.
“I think we got some positive momentum going,” he said. “The girls are trying to pick up what I’m giving them. We’re scoring some goals and more importantly we’re keeping them out.”