Rothe gets hat trick, Griffin nets 5 goals in victory over Chiefs

The best cure for losing is winning. After enduring a losing streak of four straight games, the Washington High School girls soccer team ended it decisively Thursday.

The Demons had lost 8-1 in their last game, but scored an 8-2 victory over the Southeast Conference visitors from Keokuk.

The Demons had been shut out for three consecutive games, but Greta Rothe and Trina Griffin each had a hat trick.

'It feels really good to get this win,” Rothe said. 'It will feel good at school (today) to go there with a win instead of a bunch of losses in a row.”

'I don't know what has been holding us back from scoring,” Griffin said. 'I think most teams have checked our stats, so they set their defenders to target me and Greta. Because of that we have had a difficult time scoring, but this game we had a lot of good passes.”

Rothe scored with 36 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the first half when the Keokuk goalkeeper got her hands on the shot, but let it trickle past her for a 1-0 Washington lead.

'I was just dribbling up and saw a gap so I took the shot,” Rothe said. 'I didn't think it would go in because I saw the goalie get it. I was kind of surprised it went in.”

With 18:23 to go in the first half, Rothe blasted a shot from the left side into the lower right corner for the 2-0 advantage.

'I dribbled up the side and found an open gap and shot it and it went in,” Rothe said.

Griffin made it 3-0 with 16:02 on the clock. She raced the keeper to a through ball and slipped it past her.

With 8:24 to go in the first half, Keokuk was issued a red card when a player other than the keeper put their hands on the ball in the box. The Chiefs were short a player from that point on.

A minute later Rothe scored her hat trick on a blast from outside the box.

Keokuk made the score 4-1 with four minutes 45 seconds left in the first half when Demon keeper Olivia Pescia fell outside the box and Keokuk took advantage of the open goal.

Just 20 seconds later, Griffin faked out the goalie and put the ball past her for a 5-1 Washington lead.

It was 6-1 at halftime after Griffin ran down a long kick by Pacha and put it in the net at 1:14. Pacha got an assist on the goal.

Pacha made seven saves in the match. Abbygail Voss and Halle Leyden had two assists apiece. Ava Turner and Sarah Hall each had one.

'The thing that was different from our losses was our passes,” Washington coach Protacio Marcelino said. 'I think we had better passes. Our communication was a lot better. When we do that it helps us out a lot. I think the whole team really played well. They were very good. The fact that they were talking to each other is what made the difference.”

Griffin added two more goals in the first 8 minutes of the second half. The first was once again because of her speed as she raced the keeper to a pass and beat her for the score. The second was off a free kick by Narely Torrijos and Griffin booted in the rebound.

'I guess I am just fast,” Griffin said. 'I'll just run as fast as I can and I try not to slip because it was wet out there. It was really muddy. I don't know that I really adjusted to the field being wet, honestly. I just ran and when I ran I tried to stay out of the mud.”

Keokuk added the final tally on a penalty kick with 2:27 remaining.

The Demons have a 6-5 record, 3-2 SEC and play at Ft. Madison Monday. The Bloodhounds won 2-0 earlier in the year at Washington.