ROY — Tuesday’s Roy-Hunter girls soccer match kind of played out like the Royals’ season has thus far this year.

They started off slow, kept ramming the dam, and when it finally crumbled midway through the first half, the goals came in waves.

Roy won its eighth straight game, swept the season series, and remained undefeated in Region 2 with a 5-0 swamping of the Wolverines.

Junior Essence Burrus scored brace bookend goals for the Royals, breaking through in the 18th minute, and closed out the scoring on an early tally in the second half.

“Sometimes when we don’t play as a team, we get negative toward each other. So, I figured I needed to pick it up; I needed to be the one who puts energy into the group,” Burrus said. “I worked my hardest to get that first goal and then it turned positive and we kept getting goals.

“We’re really hard on each other, but we love each other so much. We want to be perfect and sometimes it gets to be too much,” Burrus said.

Jaelyn Barba assisted on the Burrus goal, then added a pair of her own scores in the 22nd and 27th minutes as the lead swelled to 3-0.

“When we stop being negative, we really play good and just want to keep it up,” Burrus said.

Her second goal came in the 43rd minute when Kasia Greely played a through-ball that found Burrus wide open, one-on-one with the goalie, and she pounded it home for the final 5-0 margin.

Allee Leishman netted the other goal for the Royals (8-4, 8-0 Region 2) just before the end of the first half.

After stumbling to an 0-4 start this year, the Royals are on a roll in their inaugural season in their new region and are already are closing in on a league title as they are now playing teams for the second time.

“We have not had one since 1998, so 2021 would be a great year to own a region title. I’m pretty sure if we win one more, it’s ours,” Burrus said. “Some of the schools are good competition; now we just need to stay on our level and prepare for the playoffs, because that’s where the hard games are going to be.”

The Royals’ first two games were shutout losses, but since then they have averaged more than four goals per outing.

“With high school teams, it just takes a minute for these girls to click. A lot of them are playing together for the first time, meshing with girls who have some varsity experience,” Roy coach Alyssa Foutz said. “After those first few games, we have been able to move the ball and create some opportunities to score and the girls are stepping up and putting it in the back of the net.”

Newsletter