MIDDLEBURG — South Williamsport’s players know how important it is to get out right away in a game and set the tone from the get go. It’s something coach Marc Lovecchio tells his players before games as well.

On Saturday at Midd-West, the Mounties set the tone early and never let up.

South Williamsport dominated the game from start to finish and never let Northumberland Christian threaten en route to a 7-0 rout in the District 4 Class A quarterfinals.

The win advances South Williamsport to the district semifinals on Tuesday at a time and place to be determined against Southern Columbia, a 9-0 winner against Montgomery on Saturday.

“Marc always says go out hard the first 10 minutes and set the tone. So yeah, we definitely did exactly that,” South Williamsport’s Ella Moore said. “I think that really helped us push through the rest of the game and continue to keep scoring and have the momentum throughout the game.”

It took a little bit for the goals to come, but once South Williamsport put its first goal in, the flood gates opened.

Moore scored the first goal with 24:17 to play in the first half when she got her own rebounded shot which hit off the crossbar and was able to put it in to the right for a 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Coco Kline was fed a ball from Kloey Persun and Kline had a 1-v-1 look with Northumberland Christian keeper Ava Phillips. Persun fired to the left and put away a goal to go ahead 2-0. And with 8:21 to play, Kline scored again, this time from inside the 18 toward the left off an assist by Ana Oeler and the Mounties took a 3-0 lead into the break with nothing but momentum on their side.

“I always try to come out to every game with a lot of effort because I care about soccer,” Kline said. “I’ve been playing my whole life and it means a lot to me. My team is my family, I love them all.”

The Mounties kept up its aggressiveness and pressure throughout the final 40 minutes. Just five minutes into the second half, Ayla Minier scored off an assist by Ivy Minier for a 4-0 lead and three minutes later, Oeler scored to go ahead, 5-0.

Cline completed her hat trick with 31:21 to play in the game and Laurne Bertrin snuck in a goal with 14 seconds remaining in the game for the seventh and final goal.

“We’ve been working on passing a lot,” Kline said. “Just the basics because really the basics help with everything and your improvement, trapping, passing, everything.”

South’s possession and passing was crisp throughout the game, constantly threading together touches and keeping the ball from Northumberland Christian. The Warriors ended the game with just two shots on goal the entire game, one in each half.

South Williamsport ended with 21 shots on goal and fired a total of 27 shots and were constantly inside Northumberland Christian’s 18.

“We’ve been definitely focusing on (passing) a lot at practice . We’re not used to turf and we know the ball moves quicker,” Moore said. “When you don’t have the speed with everyone on the team, we know we just have to pass to feet and utilize that since the pitch is quicker and the ball will be moving quicker too. we definitely worked on passing to feet and moving off the ball so we were able to save our energy for the whole game.”

Northumberland Chrisitan junior Hannah Millett entered the game with 52 career goals but she was limited to just one shot on goal. That came with 4:41 to play in the first half when she fired a direct kick from 25 yards out, but it went low toward Althea Street, who easily grabbed it.

The Mounties nearly put in a fourth goal right before ethe half. With 3:26 left, Kline was fed a throughball and had another 1-v-1 look with Northumberland Christian’s goalie. But before Kline was able to rifle a shot, Phillips slid and got the ball to block a shot attempt.

Now South Williamsport turns its attention to 15-win Southern Columbia, the top see in District 4 for the district semifinals.

“It’s really exciting. We’ve been here before and for our freshman, it’s exciting because it’s their first time here. But everyone’s spirits are up and high,” Cline said.

Moore and the team’s other seniors are more than familiar with Southern Columbia. The two have had their fair shares of matchups in the postseason and Moore is excited for the latest chapter on Tuesday. In addition, Moore feels South’s tough schedule this year will be beneficial for playing a team of Southern’s caliber.

“I definitely do, they played a lot of similar teams too I think watching the films against those games; we know since we played other teams, we know how they play,” Moore said. “We’ve been definitely preparing for that game the most because they’re our rival since us seniors were freshmen. I think it’s going to be a big game and we really want it a lot. We’re really excited for that.”

South Williamsport 7, Northumberland Christian 0

(DISTRICT 4 CLASS A QUARTERFINALS)

SW–Ella Moore, 24:17. SW–Coco Kline (Kloey Persun), 21:10. SW–Kline (Ana Oeler), 8:21. SW–Ayla Minier (Ivy MInier), 35:31. SW–Oeler, 33:12. SW–Cline, 31:21. SW–Lauren Bertrin, 0:14.

Shots: NC 2, SW 21. Corners: NC 1, SW 7. Saves: NC 9 (Ava Phillips), SW 2 (Althea Street 1, Lily Brink 1).