CHESTERTOWN — The Shore ladies erupted for six second-half goals, including four from senior Maddy Gaydon, as they soundly defeated their guests from Hood, 7-0, Saturday afternoon in non-conference soccer action.
Washington won for the third match in a row, all by shutout, to improve to 4-1-1.
The story so far this season is that if the Shore ladies score, they will not lose.
Washington’s only defeat to date is 2-0 against then-No. 7 Misericordia in the opening weekend and the tie is a 1-1 draw at Salisbury.
Following what has been the script for success, the Shore ladies took care of scoring early on Saturday when Gina Phillips, who substituted in in the 18th minute, found the net seven minutes later on her first shot of the match.
Kaileigh Brady sent a through ball on the left side to Phillips, who, with her back to the cage, deftly moved around a defender and was able to turn and slide a shot just inside the right post.
The locals took a 1-0 lead into the locker room at intermission, courtesy of Phillips’ goal in the 25th minute, though the advantage should have been larger. After 45 minutes, the Shore ladies led 12-2 in shots and 8-0 in corner kicks.
Washington quickly ratcheted up its attacking game in the second half, getting an insurance goal with only 1 minutes, 53 seconds elapsed when Gaydon netted the first of her four tallies. Gaydon gathered in a serve from Brianna Gavini to set up a one-on-one with the Hood keeper.
Six minutes later, Brady capitalized on a set play that began with a corner kick into the box from Dahlia Kuzemka. Sophie Kilbride headed the ball over to Brady, who finished for a 3-0 lead.
Gaydon scored in the 54th, 58th and 60th minutes, with a pair of assists credited to Kilbride, to leave no doubt about the outcome of the match. Five of Gaydon’s seven shots were on frame.
Phillips completed the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 73rd minute.
Washington’s women outshot their guests in the second half, 17-2, for a final advantage of 29-4. They also led 9-0 in corner kicks.
Collectively, three Shore keepers — freshman Rylee Louden, senior Hailey Sharpe and junior Olivia Allen — were required to make only two saves to preserve the clean sheet.
Washington is idle until Sept. 24 and its first Centennial Conference match of the season, at home against Franklin & Marshall.
In a preseason poll of conference coaches, three-time defending champion Johns Hopkins collected nine of 11 first-place votes and totaled 99 points.
Swarthmore (85) and F&M (75) each received a first-place vote and finished second and fourth, respectively, in the coaches poll. F&M has been the runner-up to Johns Hopkins in each of the last two conference tournaments.
McDaniel (78) was the third pick.
Dickinson (72) and Haverford (54) also are projected to qualify for the six-team conference tournament in November.
Gettysburg (41), Washington (40), Muhlenberg (26), Ursinus (24) and Bryn Mawr (11) rounded out the voting.
