Early barrage, Routh’s hat trick carry Blue Devils to pivotal WB6 victory over defending champs

QUINCY — The Quincy High School girls soccer team’s motivation never waned no matter how sizable the lead became.

“Maybe for a second there we lost it,” senior forward Taylor Routh said. “But that’s it. We stayed pretty focused.”

On a victory. On a title. On a legacy.

Tuesday night’s 5-1 victory over Geneseo at Flinn Stadium inched the Blue Devils closer to a Western Big 6 Conference championship. Quincy is 5-0 in league play with two games remaining in pursuit of its 20th title in conference history.

“It was a really big game because we knew this was a game that could be one of the deciding factors in the Western Big 6,” Quincy defender Olivia Kline said. “We had to get a fast start.”

A goal two minutes into the game was fast enough. Routh took a feed from Rian Moore and laced a left-footed shot from left to right inside the far post for the 1-0 lead over the defending WB6 champion.

“That’s what gave us our motivation for the rest of the game,

The Blue Devils (9-1-2) felt it from front to back.

“It makes us want to push even harder,” Kline said of the early lead.

Routh doubled the advantage four minutes later. Moore took possession at midfield and pushed the ball past two Geneseo defenders, freeing Routh to run 40 yards unabated and beat the goalkeeper 1-on-1 to make it 2-0 with 34 minutes remaining in the first half.

“Right away, we did really well,” Routh said.

Bri Lannerd made it 3-0 with 19 minutes remaining in the first half as she headed in a Moore corner kick.

“The coaches kept telling us that we have to stay strong in the beginning and then pour it on,” forward Avery Morrison said.

It became the theme throughout the game.

“We kept it going,” QHS coach Travis Dinkheller said. “I kept thinking if we continue putting the pressure on them they could fold. They’re a good team and move the ball well. They ping it around good. So I knew we couldn’t have any let up at any time.”

That was especially true defensively as the Maple Leafs tried to push the ball wide and attack from the wings and the corners.

“I liked how our backs sorted it all out,” Dinkheller said. “They figured it all out. They trusted our coaching staff. Coach Longo and Coach Struck helped them sort out what to do. The forwards were playing wide. They were throwing different things at us. We figured it out.”

The offense did too.

“We kept going at them,” Dinkheller said.

Morrison gave the Blue Devils a four-goal lead with 25 minutes to play when she collected a pass from Lannerd, stepped past a defender to the inside and laced a shot from 25 yards out into the upper left corner of the net.

“I’ve been working on it,” Morrison said of her shot. “I’ve practiced that for sure.”

A penalty kick allowed Geneseo to ruin the shutout, but Routh scored with five minutes remaining in regulation to complete the hat trick and cement another WB6 victory and move closer to regaining the crown.

“I think it matters a lot,” Routh said. “Especially with this being our senior year, we want that. With a lot of seniors on the team, I feel like this is going to give us more motivation and just work our butts off to get that title.”