Lopez hat trick gives U-Hi victory over CV

For 40 minutes, the battle of Central Valley belonged to Central Valley.

The Bears (9-5, 6-5) got a first-half goal from captain Sara Wilson to take a 1-0, home-field lead over cross-district rival University. But the fifth-place Titans (10-3, 8-3, 25 points) roared back in the second half behind a hat trick from sophomore forward Rachel Lopez to take a 4-1 Greater Spokane League girls soccer victory.

Freshman Abby Goss evened the score 10 minutes into the second half, taking a feed from Katie McElroy, who set up the go-ahead goal six minutes later, this time feeding Lopez for the first of her three goals.

In other GSL matches, Chelsea Mykineff had a goal and her sister, Marissa, added two assists to lift Mead (9-3, 9-2, 27 points) to a 4-2 win at Cheney (6-7, 4-7). Angie Hughes scored the match-winning goal three minutes into the second half and added an insurance goal at the 55th minute. Mead is tied for third place with Mt. Spokane. … Brooke LaFleur had a goal and two assists to lead second-place Ferris (11-1, 10-1, 29 points) to a 5-1 win at Clarkston (0-12, 0-11), where all of the offense came in the first half. The Saxons remain a point behind league-leading Gonzaga Prep (11-1, 10-1, 30 points). … At G-Prep, the Bullpups’ Stacey Hamer poked the ball over the top of West Valley’s charging goalkeeper to score the game-winning goal in a 2-0 shutout win. Prep goalkeeper Elise Kuhar-Pitters notched her 11th shutout of the season to keep her team atop the standings with two matches remaining in the regular season… Hillary Love’s penalty kick lifted sixth-place Lewis and Clark (8-5, 7-4, 20 points) to a shootout victory over visiting East Valley (6-6, 5-6). The teams played to a 3-all tie in regulation. In the shootout, the Tigers’ Annie Virnig made two clutch saves. … Tiara Pittman scored a pair of first-half goals, each assisted by Nicole Ryan, to spark Mt. Spokane (10-2, 9-2) to a 4-0 victory over visiting North Central (7-6, 5-6). Katie Gumke scored from 40-yards out on a free kick in the second half to cap the scoring. … Shadle Park (3-9, 3-8) scored seven times in the first 20 minutes of play and cruised to a 7-1 win over visiting Rogers (0-11, 0-11). Ali Fenter scored twice for the Highlanders.