By HCC Sports Information
Freshman forward Melissa Heatherington scored her second hat trick in three games, netting four goals to lead the Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer team to a 9-0 victory region victory over Hesston College on Monday at the USD 308 Athletic Complex.
The Lady Dragons have won 31-straight regular season games and their unbeaten run was extended to 40 games (39-0-1), a mark that dates back to 2008.
Hutchinson (5-0, 5-0 Region VI) also posted its fourth-straight shutout of the season. That marks the sixth time in program history that the Lady Dragons have had a run of at least four shutouts. It was HCC’s 73rd all-time shutout in 121 games in program history.
Freshman goalkeeper Emily Soza earned her first career shutout and first career victory.
Hutchinson dominated from the outset, scoring just 1 minute, 49 seconds into the game and building a 6-0 lead by halftime.
The Lady Dragons outshot Hesston (3-3, 2-3 Region) 48-1, putting 24 shots on goal.
“We were OK. There was good stuff at times,” HCC head coach Sammy Lane said. “Hopefully we can continue to work on proper offensive movement and proper offensive choices.”
Heatherington, who scored a school-record six goals against Pratt last Wednesday, ran her season total to 10 with four tallies against the Larks.
Sophomore All-American Alicia Robinson had a career-high eight points and tied a career high with four assists. She also scored her second and third goals of the season. Sophomore Polly New scored a point in her fifth-straight game with a goal and two assists.
Robinson started the second early when she scored off a Kaitlan Kleman assists for her second goal of the season.
Heatherington netted the next two goals, the first unassisted and the second from a New assists to give HCC a 3-0 lead in the 24th minute.
Robinson had assists on the next four HCC goals.
Sophomore Logan Shupe scored her second of the season. Heatherington scored her third of the game and New added her second goal of the year to give HCC a 6-0 lead at halftime. Sophomore Pearl Slattery scored her sixth of the season on Robinson’s fourth assist to open the second half. New fed Robinson in the 62nd minute with her second goal of the game for an 8-0 lead.
Heatherington closed out the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 90th minute.
The Lady Dragons will close out a four-game homestand on Wednesday with Northern Oklahoma. Game time is 4 p.m. at the USD 308 Athletic Complex.
GAME NOTES – Heatherington’s hat trick was the 37th in program history. … This was program victory No. 96 for HCC women’s soccer. … The Lady Dragons are 5-0 vs. Hesston. … HCC’s current streak of shutout minutes is 385. … Robinson is now ninth on the career points list with 51. … Slattery is 10th on the career points list with 59. … Robinson and Slattery are tied for ninth in career assists with 19.