There were plenty of positives in the way the Tamaqua girls’ soccer team played against a powerful Pine Grove squad through 40 minutes in the first half on Wednesday.

The Cardinals flexed their muscle in the final 40 minutes, though, as they unloaded with a flurry of offensive power, scoring six goals, to roll past the Blue Raiders 8-0 in a Schuylkill League contest.

There is always a positive in a negative, and Tamaqua had a lot of plus signs the way it fought off the talented Cardinals trailing only 2-0 at the half.

Unfortunately, the Raiders just didn’t have an offense to stay-the-course, falling for the fourth time in as many tries.

“It was our best half of the year,” said Tamaqua head coach Clem McCarroll.

McCarroll’s squad is young and battling injuries. But the squad has kept fighting.

“The first four games, injuries have taken its toll, but we played hard,” he continued. “You know, they’re a very good team, talented, and they are tough to stop. We just don’t have the [depth] right now, and that is an issue.”

Pine Grove didn’t exactly set the house on fire in the opening half. In fact, it was nearly halfway through the first 40 minutes before a shot found the back of the net. Meadow Umbenhauer hit the goal unassisted at 22:39 for the first of what would be her two goals. Then as time was dwindling, the Cardinals upped the count to 2-0 on a Giana Pompei goal with 3:18 to play in the first half.

“They gave us some problems, the way they were aggressive in the first half,” said Pine Grove coach Adam Haas. “We were coming off the loss to Blue Mountain, and I felt we needed to step up our game ... we had to get more aggressive, and we did just that in the second half.”

That they did.

They were led by senior forward Viktorya Luckenbach, who strung together three-straight goals in a dominating performance. Her first goal at 22:00 minutes was unassisted, she then booted her next goal, unassisted as well, at 17:70.

The senior then hooked up with Aubrey Aungst with 12:57 to play. In between that flurry. Umbenhauer scored her second goal, and Aungst padded the score for a 4-0 lead.

“We’ve talked about intensity,” Haas offered. “We’ve got a new group, and we’re starting to gel”

Leading 7-0, Pine Grove capped off the scoring on a Mayla Fasnacht goal with 7:40 to play.

NOTEWORTHY… McCarroll praised the play of seniors Andrea Betz, Kolbe Robb and sophomore Sophia Stellfox.

SHOOTING AWAY… Pine Grove fired off 23 shots, in comparison to Tamaqua’s five.

Pine Grove 2 6 - 8

Tamaqua 0 0 - 0

Goals: Pine Grove - Luckenbach 3, Umbenhauer 2, Pompei 1, Fasnacht 1, Aungst 1.

Saves: Pine Grove - Moyer 3; Tamaqua - Scott 13.

Records: Pine Grove (2-1); Tamaqua (0-5)