The Capital City Lady Cavaliers are in Phase 2.
It's off to a good start.
The Lady Cavaliers scored seven first-half goals Thursday night on their way to an 8-2 victory against the Owensville Dutchgirls at Capital City High School to extend their winning streak to five games.
"Things are starting to come together, we're supporting each other and communicating," Capital City coach Travis Cairer said.
Capital City spent the preseason and the first couple of weeks of the season working on foot skills and getting its passing up to speed.
"Where we want to receive the ball, how we want to receive the ball was our focus," Cairer said. "We got to where that was starting to click, now in the past couple of weeks we've been working on our tactical things, such as not just passing it around, but doing it with a purpose to start or continue an attack."
There was a definite purpose Thursday. The Lady Cavaliers, especially in the first 20 minutes, were consistently finding open players in the attack with their passes that often led to goals.
"We have so many options that can score, but we also have so many players that are willing to set up their teammates to get those goals," Cairer said.
Kylie Reed got the Lady Cavaliers on the board less than four minutes into the game off an assist by Gia Pardalos. Six minutes later, Ayanna Clarke made it 2-0 off a Pardalos assist.
The opening barrage concluded when Reed lined a long shot into the back of the net to give Capital City a 3-0 advantage.
Reed's goal came on Capital City's 10th shot in the first 12 minutes.
Dumping the ball in deep and chasing it down is not part of Capital City's plan of attack.
"We could do that, we have talented players that would be very good at finishing the ball if we focused our offense on doing that," Cairer said. "We have players that can pass the ball in, we have players that can go get it and be productive.
"But there are games where that is not acceptable in a lot of games against quality opponents. We have to be able to build an attack."
Capital City then scored four times in the last 10 minutes of the half. Jada Adadey, Clarke, Pardalos and Brooklynn Greene tallied the goals. Pardalos assisted on two of the scores.
Clarke then picked up the hat trick, scoring about six minutes into the second half. Pardalos was credited with her fifth assist of the contest to break the school record of four set by Greene earlier this season.
"(Pardalos) is very good at taking people on and getting forward in the attack," Cairier said. "We don't all on her to distribute the ball that much, but when we do, she's very capable of doing it."
Landry Watson tallied both goals for Owensville (6-5), scoring in the final two minutes of each half.
Capital City (6-1) is back in action today and Saturday at the Lady Spartan Invitational in Moberly. The Lady Cavaliers will open against Father Tolton at 4 p.m. today. On Saturday, Capital City will play Kirksville at 9 a.m. and Mexico at 1 p.m.
"We're getting to a meaty part of our schedule," Cairer said. "I wouldn't say we're blooming just yet, but we're getting closer to where we want to be in our attack."