Mt. Pleasant girls soccer hangs 10

MT. PLEASANT — There were 16 goals scored at East Lake Park on Monday as Mt. Pleasant welcomed Keokuk for a Southeast Conference doubleheader, and over half of those were put in by the Panther girls.

The Mt. Pleasant girls soccer team reached double digits in a 10-1 smoking of the visiting Chiefs. That earned the home crowd some vengeancea after watching a 3-2 comeback victory for the Keokuk boys.

The Panther girls poured in six goals in the first half. Four of those came off the foot of freshman Charise Auwerda, who was simply too fast for the Keokuk defense in the first 40 minutes.

“It's just amazing, the progression we had from the first game to right now,” Auwerda said after the win. “It's a great start for our season.”

By the end of the game, both Auwerda and Elly Manning had sent four goals into the back of the net. Kiera Frazier put one in off a header, and Eva Rounceville scored her first of the season as well.

The Panther girls moved to 3-1 on the year. Mt. Pleasant now has 20 goals through just four games.

“The squad has really come together,” said Panther girls’ coach Scott Stribe. “There's a good unity about it, and kids are really stepping up and filling those shoes. It's awesome.”

The Mt. Pleasant boys were coming off a 4-1 win over Keokuk on Saturday, and goals from Ben Carthey and Moroni Sanchez had Mt. Pleasant threatening to knock off the Chiefs again, but Keokuk scored the only two goals in the second half to steal the win.

“I think we just came out a little flat,” said Panther boys coach Neil Schmitz. “It's going to be a work in progress all season. We have a lot of young players.”

Carthey and Sanchez both scored on Keokuk in the game Saturday, as did Jack Capps and Angel Avila.

The Mt. Pleasant boys are now 1-2.

Both the Mt. Pleasant girls and boys’ teams will be in Burlington on Thursday for a doubleheader at Bracewell Stadium.