Moses Lake pummels Sunnyside

Moses Lake 7, Sunnyside 0

MOSES LAKE - After Saturday's 4-1 loss to Eisenhower, Moses Lake girls soccer coach Ric Char challenged his team to compete the rest of the season.

"We came out and had a horrible outing on Saturday," he said. "We made it a point, our goal to come out strong."

The Chiefs accepted the challenge Tuesday night as they ran out to a 7-0 halftime lead and a 7-0 victory over the visiting Sunnyside Grizzlies at Lions Field.

After the win, Char said his team finally stepped up their level of play.

"They played excellent soccer," he said. "They played how I knew they were capable of. We executed, took care of the ball, we made runs and we distributed the ball. The girls showed they wanted it bad enough to stay in the hunt."

The Chiefs jumped on the scoreboard just three minutes into the game when freshman Heidi Palmer found the back of the net for the first of seven Moses Lake goals.

With a 1-0 lead over Sunnyside, sophomore forward Sydney Kimbro gave the Chiefs a 2-0 lead in the 13th minute with her first goal of the game.

The Chiefs added another goal in the 19th minute when senior midfielder Nicole Dalrymple gave the Chiefs a 3-0 lead.

Dalrymple's goal sparked a 20-minute rally where Moses Lake would score five goals.

Megan Sutherland scored her first goal of the game in the 27th minute to give the Chiefs a 4-0 lead. Just one minute later Kimbro scored her second goal of the match to give Moses Lake the 5-0 advantage.

With three minutes left before halftime, Sutherland scored her second goal of the game following a successful penalty kick opportunity.

Sunnyside then kicked the ball off to resume play and senior midfielder Jasmine Keller fielded a cross and sprinted down the sideline before cutting back across the field and scoring the seventh and final Moses Lake goal of the match.

Prior to Tuesday night's contest, Char provided his Chiefs with some words of inspiration.

"Confidence is mandatory, attitude is everything and success is a choice," he told them.

Kimbro said she and her teammates took Char's words to heart.

"Before the game we were all trying to pump each other up," she said.

With the Chiefs holding a 7-0 lead at halftime, Char told his team to work on their fundamentals.

"I told them they couldn't score anymore," he said. "Unless it was off a header."

With the season winding down, Char told his team to focus on the remainder of the season.

"I told them this was our first playoff game," he said.

Following the victory, Sutherland said her team's win over Sunnyside was crucial.

"If we wouldn't have won tonight we would have been out of the playoffs for sure," she said. "It's been a while. We just came out of a slump tonight."

Kimbro said her team will enjoy the victory and prepare for Saturday's game.

"We played great," she said. "It's going to bring our confidence up for Richland."

The Chiefs travel to Richland Saturday to take on the Bombers.