West Lafayette’s Annaliese Givan tucks home a goal in the second half of a 6-0 win over Kira Robinson and NorthWood Saturday morning at the Plymouth Girls Soccer Regional. (Photos by Mike Deak)

PLYMOUTH – For all the pomp and circumstance a team can endure after doing the ‘first-ever’ in a school sport, that hot air balloon can come crashing down just as fast. West Lafayette was in no mood to let NorthWood experience any further ‘firsts’ in a convincing 6-0 girls soccer result Saturday morning at the Plymouth Girls Soccer Regional.

The Lady Panthers, coming into the regional first the first time in program history, looked uncomfortable and flustered early as a fleet-footed West Lafayette side built its arsenal quickly. Just two minutes into the match, the Red Devils were already sending balls into the NorthWood six, and nine minutes in, started the avalanche. A ball from Caroline Sautter via the left corner was crossed nicely to a waiting Madeline Lynam, who put a chance at net that Wood keeper Kira Robinson couldn’t handle, making it 1-0.

Six minutes later, Annaliese Givan made a long run up the wing, made some space for herself on an overpursuing Wood defense and ripped a shot off the post. The opportunistic Katy Penquite was there to finish it off and the uh-ohs were starting among the Panther faithful. Robinson wasn’t able to control a corner kick in her vicinity eight minutes later, this time Avery Bartlett winning the tip drill with the finish.

At 3-0, West Lafayette was soundly in command.

“Your mind keeps fighting against itself all day long,” noted NorthWood head coach Phil Ummel of the horrible start. “You’re trying to convince yourself you can do this. Then you make a bad touch and you think maybe I can’t. Or can. It’s a back and forth battle in your mind. And unfortunately we lost that battle today.”

Lynam and Givan recorded the second-half goals for West Lafayette, Lynam in the 47th on another tap in and Givan on a pair of feeds from Lynam to conclude the scoring two minutes apart.

West Lafayette, which entered the match having scored 69 goals in 19 matches, was an offensive juggernaut in the regional semi-final. The Red Devils fired off 26 shots in the match, forcing Robinson into 16 saves. The junior keeper for NorthWood, who recorded 13 shutouts through the sectional, was under siege from the start. NorthWood was able to put just four shots on target, Gabriela Espinoza covering all four attempts.

“She just needs more game action,” Ummel said of Robinson, who has only been a goalkeeper for three seasons, high school only, at that. “She just needs to play more and get used to bigger situations. How to read the game a little better. Her raw abilities are pretty good.”

NorthWood concludes at 12-5-2, one win shy of matching the program record for wins in a season set in 2014. The sectional title was the first for the club and with a roster that has nine of the starting 11 returning next fall.

“We’re incredibly proud of our seniors and the four years they put in,” Ummel said of the seven donning the red and black for the final time. “We also wanted to give the message to our underclassmen that we are going to be back here next year. We just didn’t have the belief today that we belonged and that we can play at this level. I truly believe we can and I truly believe this is just fuel for our fire for next year.”

West Lafayette (14-6) will play South Bend St. Joe in the regional championship.