EARLHAM – Staring at a 10-player defensive front, Winterset’s attackers simply shrugged their shoulders and went to work on the pitch at Jack Padilla Field Tuesday evening.

Ranked No. 8 and the owner of nine wins in which it has scored five or more goals, Winterset is no stranger to the strategy of teams using extra defenders. It just doesn’t seem to bother the Huskies.

With Webster City in full retreat mode, particularly early on, Winterset broke through in the fourth minute and never really let up, as it thumped the Lynx, 9-0, in a Class 2A Region 3 semifinal on the artificial turf at Earlham High School.

Knowing it was going to be next to impossible to completely shut down Winterset’s arsenal, WCHS (8-7) attempted to slow the pace early. The only problem was that the Lynx surrendered their own offense.

“We didn’t want to get into a running match. We didn’t want to give them six or seven goals in that first half,” WCHS head coach Paul Baedke said.

Winterset put together a 28-0 advantage on shots in the first half and 60-0 over the entire 80 minutes. The Huskies put 31 of their shots on frame, peppering Lynx goalkeeper Maia Jaycox on a minute-by-minute basis.

Jaycox finished with 22 saves.

The ball remained in Winterset’s scoring half of the field almost exclusively, usually only going the other way when the Huskies pushed it back to reset their offense. WCHS forwards Jenna Arbaugh and Sarah Vogelbacher were never able to push the ball within sniffing distance of their goal.

Marina Brightman scored the only goal Winterset (16-2) would need with 36:48 to go in the first half on a bouncing shot that hopped over the hands of Jaycox and into the left corner of the net.

The true rolls and funny hops that tend to come on field turf played to Winterset’s advantage.

“If we had been playing on real grass, I think that first half would have been a little bit different,” Baedke said. “It rolls pretty well, but once (the ball) got in the air, if there was any spin on it, there were some funny bounces.”

Emma Gwinner and Alisan Clifton tacked on first-half goals to give the Huskies a 3-0 advantage at the intermission.

Courtney Woodcock and Sarah Balch both rifled two shots past Jaycox and into the net over the final 40 minutes. Samantha Billeter and Mikaela Lawrence also scored goals during the second half.

Dog tired from defending constantly, WCHS allowed three goals over the final 12 minutes.

Winterset will be back on its home pitch on Monday for a regional final date against Grinnell (12-6), which knocked Des Moines Hoover out of the postseason, 3-0, on Tuesday.

WCHS says goodbye to seven seniors – Jaycox, Arbaugh, Kennedy Daniels, Caitlyn Anderson, Hannah Williams, Vanessa Gutierrez, Manyvahn Phompong and Sarah Godfredsen – who helped lead the program to back-to-back winning seasons.

“It was a phenomenal year for our seniors. They did a good job all season long,” Baedke said. “It’s going to be tough to see them go.”