ADAMS TWP — The score did not indicate how well Laurel Highlands goalkeeper, Anna Sepic, played against Mars' girls soccer team Monday night — at least in the first half.

The senior dove, jumped and stood tall in a steady rain against the Planet attack, but second-seeded Mars earned a bevy of scoring chances in an 8-0 victory in a WPIAL Class AAA first-round playoff at the Mars Athletic Complex.

Mars will next play Franklin Regional, a 4-1 winner against Mt. Pleasant, in a quarterfinal Thursday at a site and time to be determined.

Sepic made 22 saves in the game, 16 of them coming in the first half.

“We knew that Laurel Highlands was pretty athletic up front,” said Mars coach Blair Gerlach, “but they seemed to sit back more tonight. It allowed us more opportunities than we thought we were going to get.

“Give her credit,” Gerlach said of Sepic. “She hung in there and did what she could against the flurries we were throwing at her. She was busy tonight.”

Mars earned 11 corner kicks on the night and received a hat trick from freshman Ellie Coffield.

It was not Coffield's first varsity hat trick. She tallied one in a 4-0 win over Hampton Oct. 11.

“The rain makes playing defense pretty scary,” she said, “but it's definitely an advantage for the offense.”

The Planets (14-1) now have 13 shutouts on the season.

“We just want to stay in (the playoffs) as long as we can,” added Coffield. “We love soccer and are having a lot of fun.”

The Planets tallied two corner kicks and six shots on goal in the first 17 minutes of play, but had nothing to show for it.

That changed when Gracie Dunaway sent a shot past Sepic from 30 yards in the 18th minute.

Just three minutes later, Mars managed three shots in less than five seconds. Sepic stopped the first, then two rebounds were blocked by Mustang defenders before the ball was finally cleared.

The reprieve was brief, though, as Coffield scored the first of her three goals moments later after a free kick from Maggie Williams.

Coffield scored twice more, in the 38th and 40th minute.

“We didn't want to let the weather be a factor,” said Gerlach. “We have a lot of freshmen on the team and getting those first couple of goals helped settle things down.”

Caroline Wroblewski scored just over nine minutes into the second half and even Sepic's competitiveness could not keep the Planets from scoring four goals on their 10 shots in the final 31 minutes.

Taylor Hamlett, Megan Zukowski and Maggie Williams finished the scoring for Mars.

Claire Valentine stopped the only shot on goal from Laurel Highlands (8-8-1) in the first half. Freshman Courtney Lisman played in net during the second half.