Warsaw’s Dayle Harvey sends in a lofting cross against Wawasee Thursday evening at the Plymouth Girls Soccer Sectional. Warsaw won the match 8-0 to advance to Saturday’s final. (Photos by Mike Deak)

PLYMOUTH – There’s shellshocked, and then there’s shellshocked. The looks on the Wawasee girl’s soccer faces, and across the way with the Warsaw’s girls soccer faces, told the tale. Warsaw erupted for four goals in the first 13 minutes – all by Elizabeth Van Wormer – to stun Wawasee in an eventual 8-0 final in the first semi-final of Thursday’s Plymouth Girls Soccer Sectional.

Wawasee’s Alyssa Bolyard sends a pass to a teammate against Warsaw.

Van Wormer had two goals in the first three minutes of the match, and just kept finding space in the Wawasee defense. Numbers three and four on the day, both off crosses from Sydney Weideman in almost identical fashion, gave the senior striker 68 goals in her career, passing Meredith Hollar for the most goals in Warsaw girls soccer history.

The statement by Van Wormer and Warsaw was deliberate, as the team carried on with three more goals in the final seven minutes of the half.

Anna Grill found the net on a pass from Alyssa Atkins in the 33rd, and Atkins was returned the favor just four minutes later by Van Wormer to make it 6-0. Atkins added her second goal of the match less than a minute later.

Jubilee Stichter scored Warsaw’s final goal 11 minutes into the second half.

Warsaw defender Breck Jackson heads a ball to safety as part of the eighth shutout the defense has pitched this season.

“Every single game you have to go out there and work hard,” said Warsaw head coach Peter Lucht, noting his club was not overlooking a team it had beaten, 8-0, Sept. 26. “We really wanted to begin this with the right focus and intensity in practice. I think it translated over to the pitch as well.”

Warsaw ripped off 20 shots to just one shot for the Lady Warriors, spanning 55 minutes of the match for Wawasee’s Leigh-Ann Shrack to force Chloe Snow into her only save of the night.

Wawasee head coach Doug Heinisch’s club had no answers for the onslaught.

“They played really well and they are a really good team that just overran us,” Heinisch said, whose team closes at 3-13-1. “The intent was to pack it in a little more. We just couldn’t mark them effectively. They just kept getting open. And we missed some plays that we should have had. But, we gave them opportunities. Some of them, they had half a step and made nice plays. They are a good team.”

Warsaw moves to 14-1-1 overall and will return to Plymouth Saturday for a 2 p.m. kick against Culver Academy in the championship game. The Academy defeated NorthWood, 2-0, in Thursday’s second semi-final. Warsaw is seeking its sixth straight sectional title and ninth overall. The Academy will try to win its eighth sectional and first since 2010. The matchup is a rematch of last year’s final, won 2-1 by Warsaw on its home turf.

Elsewhere in soccer sectional semi-finals:

At Concord:
Concord 6, Elkhart Memorial 0
Northridge 2, Elkhart Central 0

At Penn:
Penn 9, South Bend Riley 0

Wawasee goalkeeper Kayla White emerges with the ball in front of heavy Warsaw pressure.