LOYD STAR — It was a wet and chilly afternoon of soccer Saturday. Loyd Star overcame the elements to beat Magee 7-0 in the MHSAA Class I Girls Soccer Playoffs. Four different girls scored for the Hornets. 

Ady Locke opened the scoring by tucking away a penalty kick for Loyd Star 14 minutes into the match. An onslaught of goal scoring opportunities followed. 

Emma King scored on a beautiful shot into the far post past the goalkeeper’s outstretched arms to make it 2-0 with 22:30 left in the first half. Senior Abby Burnette followed by scoring the third goal of a game on a break away chance less than a minute later. Loyd Star was now up 3-0. 

Burnette scored again late in the first half on a curling shot. Loyd Star led 4-0 over Magee at halftime. Head Coach Jordan Lea tasked his team with finishing the game quickly in the second half before weather conditions worsened. 

King opened the second half scoring a minute after kickoff to put up Loyd Star 5-0 over Magee. She finished the game with two goals. Burnette earned her hattrick by scoring four minutes later. 

With about 20 minutes left in the game Adi Holcomb finished off the Magee Trojans with a slow rolling goal. King was pleased with the 7-0 victory. 

“It’s nice to help out with the win. We wanted Abby to have a great senior day,” King said. “We really love her. We will miss her. I feel like a lot of people will step up when she leaves but we will miss her.”

As Loyd Star pressed to end the game, Burnette took the chance to give advice to teammates and coach them. King said she is appreciative of the mentorship by Burnette and it helps her fellow teammates who recently started playing soccer in the past year or two. 

Magee spent much of the game defending their half of the field and did not apply much pressure to Loyd Star, King said it was a bit odd because most teams come straight at them. They will have a tough test next week against Sacred Heart at home in the second round of the playoffs. 

“We made it work. The conditions were slightly tough,” King said. “The ball moved weird but it wasn’t too bad. We are ready for the next challenge and we have been working hard. We are ready to step up and take on the private schools this year.”