By Nicholas Huenefeld

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

MILLBURY — Savannah Little completed a hat trick and then added a pair of assists in sequential order to lead the Lake girls soccer team to a 5-1 win over Bowling Green in a non-league matchup between a pair of Wood County teams on Saturday.

“Today was just about us playing hard,” Little said. “We’ve been having a tough time working hard the entire game. I feel like we all went out there and just showed up and showed out. I think we did really well. I’m glad we got the win.”

Little got the Flyers (3-0-2) on the board first just 9:32 into the game. She took a pass from Riley Byington, beat the goalkeeper and completed a left-foot strike.

The sophomore then scored directly off a corner kick with 21:10 left in the first half. From the left of the goal, Little bent it into the net over the outstretched arms of BG’s goalkeeper, Yari Corado.

“(Savannah’s) been great,” Lake head coach Lauren Colangelo said. “She’s a utility player who can play wherever we need her to play. With our center back not being 100 percent, she needed to play back there a little bit today. She’s been up to the task, whatever we ask her to do, and she’s been performing well.”

After many close opportunities to put one in the net in the first half, Bowling Green’s Leah Koester got her team on the board just over two and a half minutes before halftime, heading a ball past Lake’s goalkeeper, Lauren Tobias, off a corner kick from Josie Rigel.

“We’ve really been struggling in the first half (of games),” BG head coach Erika Kimple said. “Today, we played super aggressive. We won pretty much everything. I feel like we definitely dominated in the first half.

“I’m glad we were taking shots because that’s been an issue. One of our goals was to just take shots. We just have to find a way to put it in the back of the net and make a few less defensive mistakes.”

Little completed her hat trick with 30:10 left in the second half, placing a left-to-right shot into the right corner of the net off a pass from Allie Byington.

It was Little’s second hat trick of the season, pushing her season total to eight through five games.

Over the next 10 minutes, Brooke Wiley scored off a corner kick from Little, and Kallie Ferrara scored on a through ball from Little.

“We had a rough game on Wednesday,” Colangelo said. “We all thought that. We watched film and knew we had to get back to work.

“(Today), we started off a little rough. I think we knew what we could do, but we always seem to question if we can do it or not. Once we settled in, we actually believed we could do it.”

Tobias, who initially injured her nose on Koester’s goal, had to leave the game with a little over a minute left due to re-injuring it. She was a force in the net for the Flyers, recording 11 saves.

“I think we saw today what we’ve been seeing all season, her commitment to the team,” Colangelo said. “She’s physical as all heck and willing to do whatever she has to do to sacrifice herself for the team.”

Kaydence Eckenrode made a save in the final seconds in relief of Tobias.

“I thought we possessed better today than we have in the games past,” Colangelo said. “I told them when we keep the ball, good things will happen. I think we did that well.”

Bowling Green fell to 0-5 with the loss. The Bobcats host Napoleon on Wednesday.

Lake resumes NBC play with a road matchup against Eastwood on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

REED’S HAT TRICK PACES LAKE BOYS IN WIN OVER DEFIANCE

Greyson Reed’s hat trick led Lake to a 4-0 win over Defiance on the road Saturday afternoon.

Travis Merrill scored and had one assist for the Flyers, who also received assists from Mason Sneed and Jonathan Specht.

Mitchell Maguire had one save in goal for Lake (4-0-1), who will play Eastwood on the road Wednesday at 5 p.m.