Alex Eisen/MDN Minot High junior defender Olivia Lewis (right) attempts to cross the ball Friday evening in a West Region girls soccer game against Bismarck Century at the Optimist Soccer Complex in Minot.

The goals didn’t come right away, but they were coming.

The Minot High School girls soccer team (5-0-1, 5-0-1 WDA) wore down Century (1-3-1, 1-3-1 WDA) with a constant attacking offense and an impenetrable defense to earn a 6-0 shutout victory Friday evening at the Optimist Soccer Complex in Minot.

“It was a great effort all the way around,” MHS head coach Matt Pfau said. “We just had to break the ice. We had plenty of chances again with MaLiah Burke crossing the ball in, but the keeper dove and save them. We just didn’t get to them and that was the emphasis at halftime to get more numbers into the box. So, when those situations happened, we had more kids around the ball.”

Century’s defense was under siege for 27 minutes before the Majettes finally broke through. Unable to clear a cross from the wing by Burke, junior Brooklyn Casey was able to sneak in and get on the end of it for the opening goal.

“Keep your heads up,” one of the Century coaches yelled from the bench. “It was going to happen eventually.”

Two minutes later, Minot senior midfielder Allison Lepp found an opening and shot across Century goalkeeper Jordyn Kisse to make it 2-0 in a hurry.

The Majettes didn’t waste any time finding the back of the net again to start the second half. It only took about 35 seconds to be exact. Lepp fed Minot’s leading goal scorer Lainey Sandberg into her seventh goal of the season.

Lepp then powered her way through for her second goal of the game.

“First two goals, I beat one girl, had momentum and kept on going,” Lepp said. “The third one I just had to stay calm and composed. Finish like I have practiced a million times.”

Century’s Riley Ball was shown a yellow card for bringing a Majettes’ attacker down in the box and then was send off with a red card for unsportsmanlike conduct that followed.

Lepp calmly stepped to the penalty spot and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner for her hat trick tally.

“I think I have practiced it enough that I feel confident,” Lepp said about not having any nerves when taking the penalty kick.

Wanting in on all the goal scoring action, Minot seventh-grader Maicee Burke dribbled in and finished far post for her first varsity goal.

“We are going to have some good battles for playing time with these kids,” Pfau said. “That’s what we want, for our kids to push each other.”

MHS goalkeeper Emelea Miller only had to make one save in the shutout performance. The Majettes outshot the Patriots, 25-1 (20-1 shots on target).

The Majettes have two more home games this season at the Optimist Soccer Complex. Next week, Minot will host Jamestown on Tuesday (April 30) and Mandan on Friday (May 3) with both games starting at 7:30 p.m. The Majettes will then tackle four straight road games to conclude the regular season and their pursuit of a second straight West Region championship.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.