Muhlenkamp has career day in win

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The Patriot forwards just needed a half to get warmed up.

After the break, they were nearly unstoppable.

Kendra Muhlenkamp had a career day and Lucy Laux was a goal-scoring machine yet again as the Jay County High School girls soccer team tallied eight second-half goals Monday in a 10-1 victory over the visiting Woodlan Warriors.

“Just like any game it takes you a while to get warmed up,” said JCHS coach Giles Laux, whose team moved to 4-0 (2-0 Allen County Athletic Conference). “This (game) especially to see what their defense was giving them and how they are playing.

“They found the loopholes, if you will, in the defense. We took it to the weaker links in the chain to get through.”

Muhlenkamp and Laux each scored during the first half — Jay County led 2-0 — but it was in the final 40 minutes that the duo really took off.

At the 26:56 mark of the second half, Woodlan goalkeeper Ana Bullerman wasn’t able to cleanly save a through pass from the Patriot midfield. The ball trickled past the Woodlan junior, and Muhlenkamp was there at the goal line to tap it in for her second goal.

Just 3:02 later, the Jay County junior sent a cross pass in to Laux, who buried a right-footed shot to the right side of the net to put the Patriots ahead 4-0.

The duo still wasn’t done, whether it was scoring or helping each other.

In the 60th minute, Laux dribbled the ball into the right side of the penalty area and crossed left to Muhlenkamp, who one-touched it past Bullerman into the left side of the net to complete her hat trick.

“Excellent,” she said. Muhlenkamp tacked on her fourth and final goal of the game with less than 10 minutes to play, and she also finished with three assists. “I’ve never had a hat trick until this year. My coach and my teammates really help me get to this point.”

Muhlenkamp had never even had a multi-goal game, let alone a hat trick. She now has three consecutive games with three or more goals, and her 11 through four games this year are more than she had as a sophomore.

“She’s the Energizer Bunny,” Giles Laux said. “She just doesn’t stop. Her foot skills have gotten better from last year. It’s noticeable.

“Her speed has gotten quicker (and) she was already fast. She has a never-say-die attitude. She just doesn’t stop.”

Lucy Laux tallied her third goal of the game — it was also her third consecutive hat trick and ninth of her career — with 11:32 to play on a Muhlenkamp assist. It was exactly two minutes after Alex Bader scored her third goal of the season.

Muhlenkamp made her nine-point night appear as if she was on another level than the Warriors. But she insisted it was more difficult than it looked.

“It was definitely not easy,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my teammates. They are the ones that gave me the chances to score, the chances to assist and to win the game.”

Bader’s goal came on a solid hustle play as her initial shot from the left side plunked off the goal post. The Patriot senior battled a Woodlan defender for the ball, won it about 10 yards away from the net and rifled a right-footer to the left side past a screened Bullerman.

Breea Liette, the third forward along with Muhlenkamp and Laux, assisted on Muhlenkamp’s final tally, then got her fourth goal of the season on a penalty kick with 7:57 remaining to make it 9-0. More than four minutes later, Bader helped Irene Braun’s goal as the Patriots had a whopping 10-0 advantage.

Woodlan struggled for the most part offensively as it rarely got chances. Just when the Warriors looked as if they were going to pressure the Patriots, they were whistled for offsides. Six times, mostly near midfield, Woodlan was caught being too aggressive.

“Defense was very patient and that is a tough thing to be,” Giles Laux said.

Woodlan’s only goal came in the final minute as Jay County was whistled for a foul in the penalty box. Veronica Hathaway beat backup goalkeeper Gwen Omstead to the left side of the net after Omstead had replaced Shelby Caldwell moments earlier. Caldwell finished with six saves.