MONMOUTH — The Fletchers came to play.
Haley and Audrey Fletcher combined for four goals and four assists in Monmouth’s 8-0 girls’ soccer victory Tuesday.
Haley Fletcher quickly got the scoring started in the third minute of the game. The senior captain finished with three goals and two assists. Audrey, a freshman, scored one goal and assisted on two.
The sisters even hooked each other up for a pair of second-half scores. Haley assisted on Audrey’s goal in the 46th minute. Less than 60 seconds later, Audrey set up Haley’s hat-trick goal.
Because of their age difference, this is the Fletchers’ first time playing organized soccer together. But they have played a lot of soccer together, and it shows.
“I love it,” Audrey Fletcher said. “We’re just really close siblings, and we do everything together. We’ve been practicing soccer since we were so little, so I guess it just comes.”
Monmouth coach Gary Trafton said he has to make sure the Fletchers’ natural chemistry doesn’t get out of hand.
“It’s nice because they know each other. They kind of work off it,” Trafton said. “At the beginning of the year, I had to tell them, ‘Let’s not just look for you two.’ There’s other people out there, and it’s just going to make their game a lot easier if they’re (including) everybody.”
The Mustangs have plenty of other options. It wasn’t just the Fletcher Show on Tuesday. For instance, Emily Grandahl, the other team captain, scored twice and had an assist.
“I think we both really like it. It’s fun,” Haley Fletcher said of playing with her sister. “We know how to play with each other because obviously we know each other really well, so a lot of the stuff we do works good. But we play really well as a team all together We’re a good team.”
The Mustangs showed the breadth of their team late in the first half.
Following Haley Fletcher’s early goal, the score remained 1-0 for most of the half. Monmouth continued to attack the goal and kept Mountain Valley goalkeeper Emily Laubauskas busy.
Haley Fletcher was particularly aggressive. She finally got another one past Laubauskas in the 33rd minute off an assist by Tia Day. That goal opened the floodgates.
Two minutes later, Haley Fletcher returned the favor with a touch pass that set up a goal by Day. Two minutes after that, Grandahl scored her first goal.
After the three-goals-in-four-minute onslaught, the Mustangs held a 4-0 lead that they took into halftime.
“I think that we came out a little slow, but we definitely picked it up in the end of the first half and the second half,” Haley Fletcher said. “We just got our passing going a little more. We were a little shaky with our passes, and we started doing some give-and-gos and better passing, and I think that’s what helped us a lot.”
The lead went to 6-0 after the two Fletcher-to-Fletcher goals. Haley Fletcher’s second assist went to Sara Scott in the 53rd minute. Grandahl capped the offense with an unassisted score in the 83rd minute.
“We do rely on (Haley),” Trafton said, “but Tia can score, and Audrey can score, too. It balances out more. If you want to mark one person, that’s fine, the other two kids can shoot in there. I think we’re a little more balanced up front this year than overall last year. And overall, I think we’re a little quicker.”
The Mustangs took 33 shots on goal. Laubauskas finished with 25 blocks for the Falcons.
“We’re a young team,” Mountain Valley coach Lynn Gould said. “We had injuries that obviously affected — we had to make some situation switches on the field. It wasn’t our best game, but the girls played up to the situation that we had to play up to, given the circumstances with injuries and repositioning people.”
Starting goalkeeper Katie Harris made three saves for Monmouth, and backup Destiny Clough stopped one shot.
Monmouth (2-0) plays at Oak Hill on Thursday.
Mountain Valley (0-2) looks for its first win Thursday at home against Mt. Abram.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
