Girls' soccer: Mitchell routs Harrison in 4A Metro opener

The Mitchell girls' soccer team made an emphatic statement with a 10-0 mercy-rule victory at Harrison in both teams’ 4A Metro League opener Wednesday.

Featuring a suffocating defense as well as athletic and talented forwards, the Marauders dominated the game from the opening horn, registering a goal in the first minute.

Mitchell led 4-0 at halftime on the strength of a hat trick by junior forward Kayondra Hood.

Hood finished with five goals to lead the Marauders, who had six different players score.

Most of Mitchell’s goals came 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 mismatches.

Harrison’s defensive breakdowns were further complicated by having Brooke Bear start in place of injured starting goalkeeper Viviana Diaz.

“We still have to fix the fundamental flaws in our defense, not marking off tight enough on defense,” Harrison coach Brian Jewell said. “Getting Diaz back would be tremendous for us. She covers up a lot of mistakes for us and is a tremendous keeper for us.”

The only real challenge from the Panthers’ offense came in the 21st minute, when Mitchell sophomore goalie Rachel Francis stopped a breakaway to preserve a 2-0 lead at that point.

“We have to continue to play our game to be successful,” senior midfielder Cassandra Fernandez said. “We were playing too much kickball early on and made some good adjustments in the second half.”

The game ended in the 58th minute on Jordyn Savoy’s goal.

“I’m proud of how we played, especially in the second half,” Mitchell coach Rick Sundahl said. “That first goal less than a minute in really put them back on their heels. However, we missed a number of opportunities and we really focused on walking the ball into the goal.”