KARNS CITY — The Karns City girls soccer team lived in Forest Area's side of the field.

The Gremlins outshot the Fires 34-2 — 20-0 in the first half — but struggled to finish on most of those opportunities.

Still, sophomore Haley Scherer scored three goals and Kalee Smith added two more as Karns City downed Forest 6-1 at Diehl Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

“We had quite a few crosses we needed to finish on,” said Karns City coach Tracy Dailey. “Finishing has been something we continue to keep working on. It's coming. In close games, you get one, two, three opportunities and you better be able to finish.”

Forest goalkeeper Sarah Schettler had a lot to do with some of the Karns City failures to find the back of the net.

Schettler stopped 19 shots in the loss with some being difficult saves.

Forest (2-6-1) has been able to fluster opponents defensively this season. The Fires, however, didn't mount much of an attack, only scoring late on a goal by Morgan Silvis off a corner kick by Taylor Gatesman.

Karns City led 3-0 at the half on the strength of the two goals from Smith and one by Scherer.

The Gremlins (12-0) struck quickly in the second half on a pair of goals by Scherer less than seven minutes apart for a 5-0 lead.

“I knew they were probably going to pack it in,” Dailey said. “But we came out in the second half and we were able to do a little more down the middle instead of always going wide.”

Scherer said her team has to convert on the opportunities they get in matches like this and was happy she did so.

“It's exciting to get a hat trick,” Scherer said. “It kind of gives me a thrill.

“Games like these really help us because we can work on some things we need to do,” she added.

Scherer is just one player in cog this season for the Gremlins, who have received balanced scoring.

Even freshman Olivia Coyle got in on the act Wednesday with her first career goal.

“That's a great position for us to be in,” Dailey said. “We have people who can finish for us. Haley Scherer comes out and finishes for us every game. Kalee Smith had two goals for us tonight as well. We've seen some goals scored from our midfield. We have scorers all over the field.”