With three lopsided shutout wins and 22 goals, the month of September has worked out well so far for The Community School girls' soccer team.
Coach Kelly Feldman's Cutthroats (4-3-0, 4-1-0) are on a little bit of a roll and have gained ground in the High Desert Soccer Conference race.
And senior co-captain Erica Eshman is all about hat tricks.
Eshman, an attacking midfielder, certainly played her role in scoring three goals in Tuesday's 8-0 home victory over the Bliss Bears at Sagewillow Farms, Elkhorn. Eshman added three more in Wednesday's 7-0 league win at Gooding.
Feldman and assistant coach Carolina Stevens are pleased the Cutthroats are starting to come together as a team, controlling the ball with short passes and using their wings to push the ball up the field.
After a slow start, they've scored 33 goals in the last five games, led by Eshman (12 goals season), senior Nellie Brown (5), junior Freya Dickey (5) and freshman Ellie Swanson (5). And they've thrown four shutouts for goalie Josie Bunce.
On Tuesday, Bliss didn't have much of a chance against the 34-shot Cutthroat artillery—and the score might have been more lopsided if not for the stellar play of Bears goalkeeper Alma Rosales (25 saves).
Swanson scored with her left foot one minute into the 80-minute game at Sagewillow Farms. Eshman tallied her first goal on a Dickey feed at seven minutes. Brown (3 assists) faked the defense and lofted a beautiful cross pass to the box, where Swanson punched it in for her second goal and a 3-0 lead.
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Brown made another pretty centering pass to Emma Wilander, who scored for a 4-0 cushion at 17 minutes. Madison Murach cleaned up after an Eshman cross pass at 39 minutes. Eshman added two more goals in the second half and freshman Taylor Figge had her first varsity goal at 60 minutes.
Playing effectively on defense for the home team were Daniela Stokes, Frannie Sensenbrenner, Kayla Cloud, Chelsea Cloud and Ella Marks. Kelly Hennessy patrolled the midfield for the Fish.
The Cutthroats outshot Bliss 34-5 and had a 7-2 edge in corner kicks. But the Bears (2-2-1, 2-2-0) of coach Diana Butler did a much better job in their spacing in the second half and improved quite a bit on defense.
Scoring in Wednesday's 7-0 shutout at Gooding were Eshman (3), Brown (2), Figge and Dickey.
Next, the Cutthroats visit the Canyon Ridge Riverhawks Saturday, Sept. 12 at 2 p.m. in Twin Falls. Great Basin Conference 4A school Canyon Ridge (1-6-1, 1-1-0 league) won its first-ever girls' soccer game Wednesday by a 2-0 score over the Burley Bobcats, in Twin.
The Cutthroats travel to Declo (0-6-2, 0-4-0) Tuesday, Sept. 15 for another league game.
