Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The best team in the H-DNL may just have gotten better.

At the very least, the return of sophomore defender Payton Goodman has given Eureka girls soccer head coach Tommy Learmouth more options, and that’s bad news for the rest of the league.

With Goodman back in defense, the head coach moved junior Keylei Carroll into midfield, and that paid immediate dividends when Carroll scored for the second straight game to help the Loggers to a 7-0 win at McKinleyville on Wednesday.

Whether or not the junior playmaker remains in midfield remains to be seen, but it certainly seemed to work effectively against the Panthers as the visitors controlled the middle of the field.

“It’s something we’re going to experiment with,” the head coach said. 

The Loggers took control of the game early when Liza Crassweller scored in the opening minute.

They never looked back, opening up a three-goal advantage by halftime and continuing to pile on the pressure after the break.

“I felt like we started strong. We got off to a very fast start and then I felt we kind of had a lull for 20 or 25 minutes,” Learmouth said. “It’s hard to do, but we have to maintain that level of play.”

Klayre Barres continued her blistering start to the new season with three more goals, as well as an assist, as did Aquene Tollefson, who nailed a long range effort.

Brynn Hales also continued to impress, following up on a strong performance against Arcata on Saturday with a goal on a wonderful move inside the box.

Senior Angelina Wescott and freshmen Jordan Brown and Ginny Brooks each also had an assist.

All in all, it was a solid team effort, with contributions from everybody, literally.

“Everybody got to play,” Learmouth said. “And being able to get everybody playing time and be happy with how everybody played, I can’t have any complaints.”

The Loggers, who improved to 4-0 in league play and have not lost an H-DNL matchup in more than two years, will travel to Del Norte on Saturday.

The Panthers, who dropped to 1-2 in league, will play at Arcata on the same day.

Both of the Panthers’ losses have come against the Loggers, whom they won’t play again the rest of the way.