KARNS CITY — It was a trifecta kind of day at Diehl Stadium.

Three Karns City girls soccer players had a hat trick as the Gremlins took a 7-0 lead at halftime and cruised to an 11-0 win over Clarion in the second round of the District 9 Class A playoffs at Diehl Stadium Wednesday night.

Breann Wood, Emily LoPresti and Megan McCartney each had three goals for Karns City, which dominated from the start.

“It’s nice to see them get the points on the scoreboard,” said Karns City coach Lisa Castiglione. “You want to make sure you are playing the best soccer you can play going into the playoffs. Our girls did some nice things when we asked them to change up our style of play. They showed they can have a little bit of diversity on the field and still find the back of the net.”

Scoring was no problem for the Gremlins, who took 46 shots in the game.

The Bobcats were able to thwart Karns City for nearly nine minutes at the start until LoPresti scored off an assist from Emily Schumacher.

That revved up the Karns City scoring machine.

The Gremlins (18-0) scored five more goals in a 15-minute span and tacked on a seventh at the end of the half off the foot of McCartney.

The freshman scored two more goals in the second half to complete the rout.

It could have been much worse if it were not for Clarion goalkeeper Emily Powers, who made 17 saves.

For Clarion, the loss came on the heels of its first-ever playoff win Monday.

“This is my sixth year as the head coach and in five of those years we’ve made the playoffs. In three of those years, we lost 1-0,” said Clarion coach Terria Dotson. “I told them Sunday at practice if they won the game on Monday, I’d let them mud me. So, yesterday at practice, I got dumped in the mud.

“It was fun for the girls,” Dotson added. “We had fun in practice. We played in the mud in practice and came here and had fun. That’s all you can do.”

Karns City will hope to continue its fun when it takes on Elk County Catholic at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the district semifinals at Clarion University.

“It’s a tight-nit group of girls,” Castiglione said. “When they came in as freshmen, these seniors had one thing in mind: they wanted to win. And they have stayed close as a group. I have one captain on the team in name, but I have an entire group of seniors who are leaders.”

Breanna Brusamonti also scored two goals for Karns City.

“Nobody really cares who puts the ball in the back of the net,” Castiglione added. “As long as someone does put the ball in the back of the net.”