The East Hamilton high school girls' soccer team wrapped up the regular season Thursday night with a 7-0 nondistrict win at home over Arts & Sciences. The Lady Hurricanes won their last three games by a combined score of 14-2.
The dangerous senior duo of Julia Kaset and Lauren Barcelona set the tone for East Hamilton in the first half, putting the game out of reach early.
Barcelona had a first-half hat trick and Kaset added a goal to make it 4-0 at halftime.
"I thought the girls played well," East Hamilton coach Carrie Hill said. "We focused on coming out strong. Pregame we talked about trying to penetrate early and work the ball in. Our first look has to be to penetrate. We've had the tendency to try and possess the ball too much sometimes."
CSAS did not go quietly in the half, and it took several saves to keep the Lady Patriots out of the back of the net.
"CSAS is organized, so we had the opportunity to problem-solve on the field," Hill said. "Any time you play CSAS, they're going to come out with a high work rate, and they created some good opportunities, so we were fortunate our keepers made good saves."
The Lady Patriots kept up the pressure to start the second half, forcing a lot of action in their attacking third. Several shots neared the frame, including one that keeper Dallas Pemberton had to deflect out of bounds for a corner kick.
A dangerous free kick also bounced around in front of the goal but was cleared away to preserve the clean sheet.
With just over 20 minutes gone in the second half, East Hamilton found its scoring touch again, this time featuring a sophomore trio.
"We made some adjustments in the midfield and started to build out of the back," Hill said. "We had some underclassmen make some great decisions. We were able to give everybody the minutes they've earned and give them some experience in different spots."
Amber Gicker got the Lady Hurricanes back on the board, and just over six minutes later Bailey Kilpatrick controlled a beautiful pass at the top of the box and used one touch to make it a 6-0 lead. Ashlyn Spake ended the scoring in style by deftly volleying Arielle Fortune's cross into the net with under two minutes to play.
The decisive win allowed several East Hamilton players to join the action while others got some rest.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.