ST. GEORGE Â- Call it coincidence. call it luck. call it whatever adjective works. but Dixie State women's soccer coach Linda Huddleston knows the truth.Five seems to be our number." she said.
Five different players scored goals and Dixie State rolled to a 5-1 victory over Hawaii Pacific on Wednesday night at Hansen Stadium.
Heading into a key showdown for first place with Hawaii-Hilo. DSC wasn't about to look past HPU after scoring five goals for the fifth time in six games.
"We've done well. but there are still some things we can get better at." said Wilkes. who netted her Pac West-leading 10th goal of the season in the 41st minute that gave Dixie State a 2-0 lead. "But we're a lot more dangerous when everyone scores."
Robyn Wall (Bountiful. UT/Bountiful HS '06) got the scoring started in the game's 19th minute when she converted a rebound off a corner kick past Sea Warriors goalkeeper Veronica Ellman. After Wilkes scored. HPU's Katrina Torres answered less than two minutes later to cut the DSC lead in half.
"What I really like is when we get different people to score." Huddleston said. "Teams can't shut just one person down."
In the second half. sophomores Lataya Shaffer (Hyde Park. UT/Skyview HS '07) and Wendy Stratford (Layton, UT/Layton) and junior Shannon Larsen (Salt Lake City. UT/Skyline HS '06) all tallied goals to help Dixie State pull away. Stratford scored her seventh of the season. Larsen netted her third. and Shaffer found the back of the net for the first time in 2008.
The goals from Stratford and Larsen came on breakaways where they beat a defender and tapped the ball past a charging Ellman from just inside the 18-yard box into the net.
With Dixie State's sixth win in the last seven games. they moved within a half-game of Hawaii-Hilo for the conference lead heading into Friday's 4:30 p.m. matchup at Hansen Stadium. The Vulcans edged Notre Dame de Namur on the road. 1-0 on Wednesday.
"We shot ourselves in the foot with the loss to Notre Dame (2-1 at home on Oct. 3). Now we're in a must-win. every game." Huddleston said. "The other teams (of the Pac West) are coming together just like we are.
"If we win this one. we can win the (Pac West) championship if we play like I know we can."
TOM ZELEWSKI-THESPECTRUM
