Washington boys score 7 against Mt. Pleasant

WASHINGTON — The Washington boys soccer team continues to excel in the early season, now winning its second straight with a dominant win over Southeast Conference foe Mt. Pleasant, 7-0.

It was a tough outing for the Panthers, as the Demons held the reins early and never let up. Following the first half, Washington had built up a 3-0 advantage.

The Demons controlled possession of the ball for much of the first half. Washington created opportunity after opportunity and scored just seven minutes into the game off a Kevin Marcelino shot that found the bottom right of the net.

“We’ve got a unit,” Washington head coach Sally Hart said. “These guys want to be successful and they push themselves. I’m excited to see where they go. They show it on the field and they show it at practice, they show it in the games and they show it on the bench cheering for each other. Seeing them really click is great and I hope they continue to up the ante so to speak.”

Fredy Aguilar and Emre Akgul, who both finished with two goals on the day, scored the second and third goals for the Demons in the first half.

In the second half, Mt. Pleasant continued to struggle to corral the ball and Washington took advantage with outstanding passing and ball movement.

“We were prepared really well,” Akgul said. “Our coaches have really prepared us. We’re making sure we’re doing good triangles. Position is really important. We’re working on good passes and through balls, that’s really helped.”

Aguilar grabbed his second goal at the 26:46 mark, slipping the ball into the bottom left to make it a 4-0 game.

Washington tact on three more goals before the final whistle. Bill De La Rosa scored the fifth, Akgul’s second on the day was the sixth and Quentin Howard finished off the seventh goal for Washington with 6:31 to go.

In all, Washington unleashed a total of 34 shots, 23 being on target. Mt. Pleasant tallied just six shots in the contest, with one being on target.

“We continue to improve every game,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Neil Schmitz said. “We ran up against a very solid and impressive team that played some good soccer and they put it on us this week, but we got them again later in the season. I look forward to that.”

For the Panthers, Nathan Peiffer picked up five saves on the day. Cole Anderson finished with three saves for Washington.

Washington, now 2-0, will be back at it on Monday, April 11 against last years Southeast Conference champion Fort Madison, 1-1.

Mt. Pleasant, 0-2, will also compete on Monday, taking on Keokuk, 0-2.