By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Riverside earned its second district victory on Saturday, defeating visiting rival St. Charles Catholic 8-0 at Mickey Roussel Field. 

Jordan Duhon and Maddie Duhon each scored three goals while Caitlin Roussel scored two for the Rebels, who scored seven of their goals in the first half.

“Once we got our first goal, we really started rolling from there,” said Riverside coach Mert Deger. 

“This was another important win to keep us on track to finish in one of those top two (district) spots.”

Deger said the Rebels got more scoring from set plays than usual, and were able to maintain possession for a large portion of the match.

“It was a possession-type of game for us, and we feel good about those,” said Deger. “I’m just very happy to pick up the win. We’ve got three district games left, the second round of district coming up, and this clinched a winning first go-round.”

Riverside will have a challenge today as it travels to face University, the lone district foe to defeat the Rebels through the first round of district. The Cubs downed the Lady Rebels 5-0 in the earlier meeting between the teams. 

Deger said that eliminating some of the mental errors that plagued his team could go a long way toward changing the outcome this time around.

“I feel like we learned our lessons from the first game,” said Deger. “We defended well at times, but we made some costly individual mistakes that factored into goals. When you make mistakes against good teams, they punish you for it.”

At the offensive end of the field, Deger said University offers a major challenge, led by Cubs goalkeeper Elizabeth Bankhead.

“She’s one of the best goalkeepers in the state. For sure, this will be a tough game for us,” he said.