By DAVE DOMESCIK | Staff Writer

PELHAM – The Spain Park Jaguars cruised to a 10-0, mercy-rule victory over the Pelham Panthers on the road on Friday, April 4.

The victory matches the two teams’ previous matchup on Friday, March 14, another 10-0 Spain Park victory. With the win on Friday, Spain Park remains atop Class 6A with an unbeaten area record and a 12-2-1 overall record.

Reese Oldfield accounted for four of Spain Park’s goals, including an own goal by Pelham early in the first half. Addie Soehn also wreaked havoc offensively for the Jaguars, creating multiple scoring chances and tallying four assists in the game.

The Pelham offense was severely limited by Spain Park’s pressure and ball skills, as it accrued very few scoring opportunities throughout the match. Marly Barfield played admirably in goal but was subbed out late in the first half after surrendering five scores.

The game began with an early Jaguars score from Oldfield, who was all gas and no brakes throughout the entire contest, scoring a beauty less than two minutes into the game.

After the early Oldfield goal, Pelham’s defense held strong for the next few minutes, with Spain Park getting plenty of chances yet failing to capitalize.

Around the 31-minute mark, Oldfield began to assert her dominance. The Mississippi State commit accounted for four goals in under five minutes to propel the Jaguars to a 5-0 lead.

A Pelham own goal created by an Oldfield cross to the middle was the first of the flurry, making it 2-0. Soehn created a great offensive chance for Oldfield less than a minute later, increasing the Jaguars lead.

Soehn again connected with Oldfield to make it 4-0 in the 13th minute, and the dynamic duo worked wonders again a little over a minute later to make it 5-0.

With the first half winding down, Libby Gray joined the Spain Park scoring party, making it 6-0 with around 16 minutes to go in the first half.

After more scoring chances for the Jaguars stalled out, the teams headed to halftime with the score at 6-0. Spain Park improved their lead 16 seconds into the second half to make it 7-0, continuing to put the game out of reach.

Priscilla Thornton then scored a beauty three minutes later to make it eight goals for the Jaguars on the day. Later in the second half, Soehn took on the Panthers defense by herself and found Alyssa Nguyen for a tap-in goal. Another Spain Park goal with 14:20 left made it 10-0, and the game ended by mercy rule.

Up next for the Jaguars is a home game against Briarwood on Tuesday, April 8 at 5 p.m. Pelham, meanwhile, will look to bounce back at home against Brookwood on the same day at 5:30 p.m.