By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Bedford North Lawrence celebrated its seniors a little early.
The Stars will officially honor their three upperclassmen during the next home game, but they didn’t wait for all the emotional pomp and circumstance. Rachael Barr, JoLynn Wilson and Jayella Filler all found the net as BNL slammed Salem 8-0 on Tuesday evening.
Filler scored twice in the first half as BNL (3-7-1) ended a four-match winless slump and recorded its most goals of the season. The Stars also enjoyed their biggest offensive production since totaling 10 in 2020 against North Harrison. That will be tough to match again because of the recent mercy rule that ends a blowout at the nine-goal differential point after the midpoint of the second half.
The seniors did all the early damage as BNL rolled to a 4-0 lead at intermission. Barr belted home a free kick from the top of the penalty box at 23:13, Filler got her first of the season at 19:24, and Wilson whacked home another at 13:31. Filler finished the half with her second at 8:22.
“We had a lot of good passing,” Filler said. “We were able to get it around them and make shots.”
Filler’s offensive eruption was the result of her shift back to the forward attack. She was asked to patrol the midfield for defensive support this season, which has limited her opportunities.
“Midfield is hard, especially on defense,” she said. “It’s hard to stay positive, running back and forth. This felt really good. It’s always good to get a win.”
BNL maintained constant pressure and duplicated its scoring surge in the second half. Mycah Munguia gathered a crossing pass and slammed home a goal into an empty net at 18:27. Summer Hughes hammered home a penalty kick at 12:06, then whistled a long shot from the left wing at 8:51. Elizabeth Miscuf capped the scoring with a goal off a sharp Munguia pass from the right wing at 7:17.
“I told the defense to push up to the halfway mark, to keep the ball on our end and prevent it from going down to their end,” BNL coach Bret Roberts said. “Pushing up helped us get more offensive players forward, so we weren’t stranded by themselves. We had some passing combinations, we had several assists because we had people up helping.BNL
”It seems like our schedule is hard at the beginning, then we get some success toward the end. It builds our confidence., and we can beat teams when we have the opportunity.”
The Lions dropped to 0-8. BNL will celebrate Senior Night against Trinity Lutheran on Thursday.
”I hope we can do it again, because that is our night,” Filler said. “We’re just preparing for that.”
