Early offense leads Central past South

Apr. 21—CHEYENNE — The Cheyenne Central girls soccer team was on the attack early and often Tuesday evening.

A big first half that featured 11 shots on goal from the Lady Indians helped them pick up a 9-0 victory over Cheyenne South at Riske Field.

It was Central's first contest since April 10 after last week's matches were postponed.

"They started off well, the thing that I could say is they finished well in the first half and the first 15 minutes of the game," Central coach Jeff Norman said. "(Tuesday) was about getting back into it ... they walk away having a fine game for having gone a couple weeks without a game."

Sophomore Mia Gerig scored her first goal of the season and Central's first goal of the contest when Zoe Lam found her wide open on the right side of the penalty area for an easy look in the 3rd minute. Junior Calie Mosely followed it up with two of her three goals in the 6th and 10th minutes, with the first coming on another assist from Lam.

Lam added to the Indians' advantage with a free kick from 27 yards out that barely squeezed in between South goalie Kaylea Warnick's outstretched arms and the top right corner of the frame. With the strike, the Indians held a 4-0 lead in just the 13th minute.

Mosely and Lam each found the back of the net one more time, with Mosely securing a hat trick in the 14th.

In the 25th, Gerig gathered the ball on a Central throw-in and scored her second goal of the contest with a strike from the left side that was just out of Warnick's reach.

"I found the ball and I didn't think I had enough time to take a couple more touches," Gerig said. "So, I just put it next to the goal and it ended up with a good shot."

Shelby Gibson scored the Indians' final goal of the half with a penalty kick in the 26th, and Central carried a 8-0 lead into the break.

The Indians (4-1 overall, 4-1 conference) scored their final point of the game when Mosely found Alyssa Brenchley for the good look among traffic right in front of the net. Following that goal, the Lady Bison buckled down and started to halt Central's attack while also building on their own.

"The first half we came out and played flat," South coach Brandon McHenry said. "After halftime we settled down, we switched a few things up, not a ton, and pushed some people forward to try and get more of an offensive attack, which kind of helped out and relieved the defense a little bit, but more than anything it was the confidence (that was the difference in halves)."

Cheyenne Kohlhagen almost gave the Bison (0-7, 0-7) their first goal of the season in the 20th minute. The junior's penalty kick just missed and bounced off the right upright. She had a couple more looks at the net in the 67th, but couldn't connect.

With two more games this week, Norman is hoping to build on the momentum from Tuesday's win, but also clean a few things up in the short turnaround.

"We're a possession-based team, and we have to control the ball and a lot of those issues (Tuesday) are from movement off the ball," the coach said. "It's something we've been working on a lot."

Central plays at Laramie at 5 p.m. Thursday, while South hosts Cheyenne East at 6 p.m. Thursday.

CENTRAL 9, SOUTH 0

Halftime: 8-0

Goals: Central, Gerig (Lam), 4. Central, Mosely (Lam), 6. Central, Mosely (Brenchley), 10. Central, Lam, 13. Central, Mosely, 14. Central, Mosely (Lam) 16. Central, Gerig, 25. Central, Gibson (penalty kick), 26. Central, Brenchley (Mosely), 51.

Shots: Cheyenne South 4, Cheyenne Central 21. Shots on goal: CS 2, CC: 16. Saves: CS 7 (Warnick), CC 2 (Osterland).

Corner kicks: CS 0, CC 4. Offsides: CS 0, CC 4. Fouls: CS 3, CC 9.

Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.