Senior captain Allison Lundmark would belt home the first and final goals of the game, a nearly identical pair of monster shots each from 30 yards out, as the Trojans (4-1) claimed a 6-1 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association West Division girls soccer victory over Falconer/Cassadaga Valley (2-2).

Despite the lopsided final, the Golden Cougars would keep things close through the early going after Lundmark opened the scoring on her way to a two-goal, two-assist night.

In the sixth minute of play, the senior midfielder found an opening in the center of the field and elected to send a deep ball on net that could not be reached by goalkeeper Grace Lundmark.

“She’s a smart kid that likes to play, that doesn’t mind taking a shot,” Southwestern assistant coach Dr. Ryan White said. “This group never wants to give up. They never want to give up, they want to play as a team, they want to go to the ball and they want to play with urgency.”

Falconer/Cassadaga Valley’s Tess Spangenburg (22) attempts to dribble past Southwestern’s Mia Turnbull (8) during Thursday night’s CCAA West Division girls soccer game at Bill Race Field in Falconer. P-J photo by Jay Young

Battling back from Southwestern’s opening goal, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley would take advantage of a corner kick four minutes later. Michaela Olson would send a clean ball into the 6-yard box, where it took a bounce and was finished off on a head ball by Ali Davis to even things up with 30 minutes left in the half.

“Coming in, playing a team for the first time in a season is kind of hard because you don’t know to expect,” Golden Cougars coach Brett Johnson said. “Just based on what we had seen, some of the scores from them, teams that we’ve mutually beat, we knew it was going to be a close game.”

With rain continuing to come down, the Golden Cougars job of keeping Southwestern off the board would only become more difficult as the evening wore on.

Shortly after Davis’ tally, the Trojans roared back on offense as Emily Kimball fed Ellie Lawton with a pass down the right sideline.

Lawton elected to let fly with another long shot despite the harsh angle, and that try would find its way over the reaching arms of Grace Lundmark.

With 19:20 remaining in the first half, Southwestern grew its lead to a pair when Lawton fed Brynne Conley on a fast break opportunity for a shot that slid by the Golden Cougars’ keeper.

Kayla Lynn would do her best to create some offense for the hosts prior to the half, beating a defender and getting into scoring position before Southwestern’s Morgan Troutman was able to scoop up that chance.

“We’re always worried of every opponent. We know that they have been playing well, they actually just beat Allegany-Limestone,” White said. “We knew we were going to have to play our game, which was going to be passing. We were going to have to play our game — possession and go after them with urgency and it seemed to work out.”

The Trojans would continue their scoring campaign in the opening minutes of the second half, firing a shot off the crossbar just moments before Segrue was able to finish off a rebound that was chipped into the slot by Allison Lundmark.

Southwestern would make it 5-1 on a tally by Kimball, before Allison Lundmark showed her range once more on a deep shot that was set up by a pass from Lawton for the final goal of the night.

“It all starts in the back,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to tighten up in the back. Honestly our possession in the midfield and connection to the forwards, we love it, but everything starts with the defense. Not that we feel uncomfortable with our defense, but it can always get better. I personally don’t feel that we played our best game tonight. We’re not happy with the outcome. Definitely a winnable game for us.”