A lot of teams have struggled picking up where they left off after the spring-break layoff. That couldn’t be further from the truth for the Washington girls’ soccer team, which resumed its offensive onslaught with three wins this week by a combined 20-2 score.

The most recent was a 9-0 rout of 2-A Eastern Plains Conference opponent Southwest Edgecombe. The Lady Pack built a 6-0 lead in the first half on goals from Sydney Edwards, Blake Swanner, Berenice Chavez and Sydney Walker. Julissa Perez had five saves in the first 40 minutes, too, to maintain a clean sheet.

Washington scored thrice in 17 minutes in the second half to end the game via the mercy rule. Swanner, falling down, was able to launch a chip shot from the left side of the box over the opposing goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net for the ninth goal.

Jordan Prescott found herself in alone and Christina Scott dinked a shot off a turnover into the corner of the goal for the Lady Pack’s other two markers of the second half.

“We’re clicking here. We’ve got a very balanced attack,” coach Ed Rodriguez said. “I think all our girls up front are leading the conference (in scoring). … We’re doing well offensively, but we’ve got to do better in the middle. We’ve got to be more aggressive and win every ball.”

While Washington’s offense has been firing on all cylinders for some time now, the defense played on Thursday was the highlight for Rodriguez.

“Whatever we score, I’d rather see 6-0 than 9-1,” he said of Thursday’s clean sheet. “You can’t lose if you don’t give up a goal. I love defense.”

The Lady Pack opened the conference stretch on Tuesday with a 3-1 win at Beddingfield.

“At Beddingfield, it was a very physical game,” Rodriguez said. “We started good, moving the ball. We got ahead of them 1-0 then we lost Jordan. She had an injury with her knee, so she didn’t play most of the first half and all of the second half.”

The girls adjusted fine to Prescott’s absence. They came out in the second half and were able to score twice to earn the win. Rodriguez was pleased to see that the team’s chemistry wasn’t interrupted. That can be attributed to the in-game action he’s given to the substitutes.

“We’ve got to give them practice now because if you don’t practice them when you don’t need them, they won’t be ready when you do need them,” he said.

Rodriguez tested Prescott and her knee in Wednesday’s game against Kinston, which Washington won 10-1. She was fine by Thursday’s game, scoring once and assisting on another goal.

With the attack faring so well, success against the rest of the league may come down to the defense continuing to improve.

“Our midfield is doing well and our goalie (Perez) that took over after the second game is doing great,” Rodriguez said. “Our defense is starting to gel better. They’re not only kicking, but actually passing the ball. Everybody is learning.”

Washington has a young group making up this already formidable team. If they continue to learn and grow as the campaign continues, there’s no telling how far they can go this year and in the future.