Girls’ soccer comfortably took down Menlo-Atherton on Saturday afternoon by the final score of 5-0.

Despite the final score, the game started out with Menlo-Atherton dominating most of the possession and chances. They had two very good opportunities on goal to give themselves the lead early, but failed to convert either, leaving the door open for the Vikings.

Chloe Japic (’20) opened up the scoring for the Vikings, taking advantage of Menlo-Atherton’s missed opportunities, and giving Paly a lead in the first half.

The rest of the half was played out fairly evenly with both teams having decent chances, but no one converting. This sent the game into halftime with the Vikings having a 1-0 lead.

Paly came out really strong in the second half, grabbing a second goal thanks to Tess Preising (’17). The Vikings continued to play well and added a third goal off of a corner kick. The goal was awarded to Reilly Filter (’17), but appeared to come off a Atherton defender.

“The second half was much better. (I told them at halftime] that they needed to play better passes. We complicated the game for ourselves. When they play faster, they defend better, and it’s a much better situation for us,” head coach Kurt Devlin said about his team’s performance.

With time winding down in the match, Paly kept control and dominated the play. Late in the half, they added two more insurance goals to guarantee themselves the victory. Natalie Maloney (’17) took the fourth goal and Japic secured a brace on the match by scoring her second, and the team’s fifth and final goal.

The girls’ soccer team now look forward to their next game which is on Tuesday at four against Capuchino at home.