The Mount Carmel soccer team would like nothing more than to repeat as the Division I state champion.

The Cubs took a step in the right direction against East Ascension in a second-round playoff game Wednesday. Mount Carmel controlled the ball from the opening whistle, and outshot its opponent 24-0.

That combination was too much for the Spartans, and the Cubs posted a 3-0 victory at Pan American Stadium in New Orleans' City Park.

The victory sets up a quarterfinal against District 6 rival Dominican. That game will be played at 6 p.m. Monday at Pan American. Those teams played to a scoreless tie in the district finale Jan. 28.

Offense wasnt a problem for Mount Carmel against East Ascension, however, their shots did take some time to fall.

We started off a little nervous, and we knew we had to get it together, said Mount Carmels Maddy Murret, who scored two goals against East Ascension. We got our confidence up after missing a few early shots. Thats definitely one of the most frustrating things, when youre taking shots, but they arent going in. Once we had one, we settled down.

Mount Carmel (20-5-2) set the tone early with five close-range shots in the first 12 minutes. Though those attempts missed, the attack wore on the Spartans. The Cubs eventually found the net in the 15th minute when Sydney Blue assisted Jo Galloway for a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs continued to fire at the Spartans net, and outshot East Ascension 17-0 before halftime. Murret scored the other goal of the half when she lined a shot from mid-box to center-net during the 34th minute. She increased Mount Carmels lead in the 45th minute after firing to the top right corner from about 10 yards out.

Mount Carmel coach Pavlos Petrou substituted liberally midway through the second half, and the Cubs still continued to control possession, though they failed to score again.

Petrou was quite pleased with his teams effort, especially with the ball at its feet.

The offense was clicking today, he said. Especially in the first half, there was so much one-touch play, and six or seven pass combinations. We created a lot of good chances. Maybe sometimes we were a little wasteful, but I was happy with the way we came to play. We werent afraid to take our chances.

East Ascension coach Chris Goodall knew his team was in for a difficult battle against the defending state champion. He took pride that his team allowed only one goal in the second half.

Theres a reason were No. 19 and theyre No. three, Goodall said. I was so happy with the second half and that we went (35) minutes with them (not scoring). They got the third goal, and (Petrou) didnt sub everyone out straight away. I was very proud of our defense there.

East Ascension finished 10-9-5.

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Girls soccer playoffs: Mount Carmel dominates East Ascension, moves to quarterfinals - The Advocate