File photo – Eureka’s Angelina Conant, left, helped lift her team to a big second half at McKinleyville on Wednesday.

The Eureka Loggers took control of their big 4 girls soccer game at McKinleyville with a dominating second half on the way to a 4-1 win on Wednesday afternoon.

With the win, the Eureka girls improved to 4-1 in conference play and remain atop the standings just over halfway through the Big 4 schedule.

The Fortuna girls remain tied with the Loggers in conference play after defeating Arcata 3-0 on Wednesday night.

For the second time in three days, including a matchup against Ferndale on Monday, it took the Loggers some time to get going and they trailed 1-0 at halftime.

However, for the second time in three days, the Eureka players took over in the second half and this time they netted four unanswered goals on the way to the victory.

“It was a big second half,” Eureka head coach Melania Valdez said. “We really were able to collaborate, understand and identify the issues we had in the first half, and the girls really turned it around in the second half.”

The in-form Lorena Hernandez followed her hat trick on Mondays with two more goals on Wednesday, while Angelina Conant also scored in the win, as did freshman Kyla Benzinger.

Abi Pimentel scored the only goal of the game for the Panthers, who carried a one-goal lead into the break but were unable to make it stick.

“It kind of fell apart in the second half,” McKinleyville head coach Brady Burtchett said. “We played a good first half, but I thought (Eureka) outplayed us in the second half.

“The energy and effort wasn’t quite there and I thought Eureka took advantage of that.”

File photo – Kyla Benzinger

There were several standouts for the Loggers, including the ever-dangerous Conant, who continues to combine well with Hernandez and Benzinger in the middle of the field.

According to Valdez, the middle of the field was stagnant for the Loggers in the opening half, but the talented trio grew into the game and began to take control after the break.

“Lorena and Angelina had two girls on them the entire time, and for them to be able to work past that was fantastic,” the Loggers coach said. “They were able to get on the ball and place it where it needed to go.

“Our quickness in the second half definitely played to our favor.”

Mary Ann Som also continued to impress for the home team and is enjoying a big season in center midfield.

“She played very physical and had energy throughout the game,” Burtchett said. 

The entire McKinleyville team looked ready to go from the outset.

“In the first half we were challenging really well,” said Burtchett, whose players had nine shots in the opening 40 minutes, including five on target. “We were marking well and we made it very difficult for their two center mids (Conant and Hernandez), but in the second half we backed down from that.”

Both teams will be back in action on Saturday.

The Loggers will host Fortuna in a top-of-the-table clash at Washington Field in Eureka at 3:30 p.m., while McKinleyville will make the short trek to play rival Arcata, also at 3:30 p.m.