So far so good for the Del Norte Warriors.

One third of the way through their Little 4 schedule, the Warriors improved to 3-0 with a second straight conference shutout on Wednesday.

The Warriors hosted the St. Bernard’s Crusaders and won 2-0, remaining atop the Little 4 standings and on course for a first-ever conference championship in the sport.

But they to battle and the game wasn’t decided until the final few minutes when Lillie Franklin netted her team’s second goal.

And they won with some solid defense.

“We played good,” Del Norte head coach Shawn Eckart said. “It was a little more of a defensive game for us. My defensive line was strong.”

That strong defense began with a big game from left back Avery Ritter and another big game between the posts for inspirational team leader Deja Payne.

Ritter, according to her head coach, “made a huge contribution on defense” and battled for every ball that came her way, while Payne made several more big saves, as Del Norte fans are accustomed to seeing from her.

“She was coming out of the box well,” Eckart said of the senior shot stopper. 

Alexis Aguirre broke the deadlock and gave the home team a 1-0 lead on a breakaway in the first half, calmly slotting home with a well-placed shot low and past the keeper at the near post.

That would prove to be enough for the conference leaders, whose hard work and dedication during the offseason is paying off.

Team leader Aurora Mitchell also continued to play well and turned in another strong performance in midfield.

“I think we’re getting better at our speed dribbling,” said Eckart, who added, “It was a battle in the middle.”

Lilly Schaad also had an inspirational game at defensive midfield, taking numerous shots to her body.

“She was in it to win it for sure,” Eckart said. “She made sure they didn’t have any long balls.”

The win keeps the Del Norte girls on course for amconference championship, although Eckart and his players know there is a still a long way to go with two more rounds of league play remaining.

“I’m a coach who believes it’s one game at a time,” said Eckart, who says he doesn’t look at other scores. “We focus on our game, we focus on playing together and playing good defense, and we touch the ball as often as can and move the ball around. And it all comes from hard work.”

Despite the loss there were some bright spots for the Crusaders, especially early in the game.

“We played a good first half,” head coach Jeff Sellars said. “Despite conceding from a defensive error, we did keep threatening.

“But in the second half we kind of lost our mojo and energy.”

Xochitl Granados and Eliana Sellars both played well in midfield and combined effectively with Cadence Figas in attack.

“I thought all three of them worked really well together in midfield putting together some nice sequences of passes,” their head coach said.

The ever-tenacious Sahara Tupua also had a good game in defense, along with Alyssa Boham, who continues to impress in her defensive midfield role.

“She held down her defensive midfield responsibilities well,” Jeff Sellars said of the latter.

Next up, on Saturday, the Warriors play at Fortuna and St. Bernard’s plays at Eureka.