The first-ever Lakes Conference girls soccer champions were back on the field Monday after a week off, and the Tigers picked up right were they had left off.

Spencer/Emmetsburg won its 11th game of the year and put the finishing touches on the regular season conference sweep with a convincing 9-0 victory over Spirit Lake Park/Okoboji.

The Tigers were fueled by a hat trick from Emily Johnson, the first of her goals coming 15 minutes into play on an assist from Kelly Gerdeman. Minutes later, Madella Smith scored another to make the score 2-0. With the lead and the momentum, the Tigers made a change in the field, which proved to pay off. "The wind was pretty strong and we were dominating territory. We weren't in any danger in the back, so we put Lindsay Wicks in the goal and Brittany Peterson came into the field," head coach Tom Van Tassell commented.

Peterson ignited a scoring barrage at the 2:18 minute mark with a goal that glanced off the bottom of the crossbar. One minute later, Peterson found Johnson for another assist as she slipped the ball over the Spirit Lake Park/Okoboji goalkeeper's fingertips to widen the score to 4-0.

Peterson added three more assists in the second half.

One minute into the second half Peterson and Johnson hooked up again, widening the score to 5-0 to complete Johnson's hat trick. Five minutes later Molly Clasing found the net with a little help from Sam Caven, and in another four minutes, Carolyn Gerdeman found the net with a sliding boot, assisted by Peterson. With just under 14 minutes left Kelly Gerdeman joined the scoring parade on an assist from Smith, followed three minutes later by the last of Peterson's four assists -- a pass to Kelly Gerdeman.

"It was a shooting barrage and nine goals is a lot of goals. You can't argue with the result," Van Tassel said of the Tigers relentless attack, "It was a business-like game. We did what we needed to do."

Spencer/Emmetsburg attempted 44 shots on goal and had eight corner kicks.

"I thought it was a better match than the first time against them. Their keeper made quite a few saves," said Van Tassell. "We worked hard. I'm pleased in the second half that even though the wind was in our face, we were able to keep the pressure on."

With Mondays victory the Tigers improve their overall record to 11-1.