It was an offensive explosion for Jefferson at lower Kingston on Thursday as the J-Hawks topped Iowa City High, 4-0, n a Mississippi Valley Conference girls soccer game.

Jefferson took control of the game right out of the gates and put the pressure on the Little Hawks for the entire first half.  The J-Hawks (3-4, 2-2 MVC) were finally able to break through in the 13th minute when sophomore Katie Dierks found the back of the net.

“We did a give and go,” Dierks said. “I passed it to Trina (Gallagher) and she passed it back to me after I had gotten around a girl, then I think I took a touch in and just shot.”

The shot was a beauty as Dierks was able to chip it over the keeper from inside the 18-yard box and into the upper 90 over the keepers outstretched hands.

That goal opened up the flood gates for the J-Hawks as Dierks scored again four minutes later and Gallagher piled on another less than 40 seconds later to put Jefferson up 3-0.

Even with such a big lead, Jefferson continued to push the issue, staying on the offensive for the entire first half.

“It was a good first half,” Jefferson Coach Ash Brannan said. “We finally got some attack working. We have been waiting for that. We started to combine a few passes together and movement off the ball was good. It’s nice to finally score some goals. We have been in kind of a drought lately.”

The offense couldn’t have come at a better time for the J-Hawks, who have been struggling to put the ball in the net. They scored more than one goal in a game only once before they broke out with four Thursday.

“It is a good push onto the season,” Dierks said. “We know we can score this many goals, so that just give us motivation to score more throughout the season.”

In the second half, the Little Hawks (0-7-1, 0-4) showed more fight, controlling the ball more and putting a little bit of pressure on the Jefferson goal from time to time.

The only goal of the half came from freshman Ashley Rayer, who just joined the varsity squad. She took a pass from freshman Devin Womochil, created some space at the top of the penalty box, and hit a hard shot on the ground that hit the opposite side post and bounced in.

Although Brannan was pleased with the first half, he was a little disappointed in how the team finished the game.

“We just couldn’t combine like we did in the first half,” he said. “I think we got a little stagnate. Girls were just standing around too much instead of moving for each other and the other team had the ball too much. We didn’t close on the ball quickly enough.”

Brannan is hoping that his team can learn the right lessons from this game and start to play like they did in the first half on a more consistent basis.

“We finally got some players working together,” Brannan said. “We have talent, we just have to figure out how to use each other, play with one another, and start to combine with one another.”

Jefferson 4, City High 0

Goals -- Jefferson: Katie Dierks 2 (13th, 17th), Trina Gallagher (18th), Ashley Rayer (56th). Assists -- Jefferson: Trina Gallagher, Kayla Jaschen, Maggie Bruckman, Devin Womochil.