Aberdeen Central had everything in its corner on Tuesday afternoon.

The Golden Eagles possessed the wind in the opening half, possessed the ball all game, and claimed a 10-0 mercy-rule shortened Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ soccer win over Huron at Brownell Activities Complex.

Central had the wind in the opening half and dominated the action.

“The wind always causes issues with the game of soccer, but the girls did a good job of staying composed and doing what we needed to do,” said Central coach Merle Aske. “We probably could have got a few more cleaner looks, but it is what it is at this point. We got what needed done, we got the work done, now we can start getting ready for Brandon on Saturday.”

The Golden Eagles connected on passes and scored early and often on the way to the victory. Gracie Lozenski, Ryelynn Hammer, and Kyley Stewart each scored twice for Central, while Brianna Fischer, Kaylee Kiesow, Emma Joachim, and Kamryn Arnesen each found the back of the net once.

“We just connected,” Hammer said. “We got our shots off when we could and we talked and we tried to move the ball around as much as we could. We played our game today. That’s what mattered most.”

Interestingly enough, the Golden Eagles had just as much success against the wind as they had with it on the afternoon.

Aske has always said that it is easier to play heading into the wind because it is easier to control the ball, although Huron had a tough time clearing the ball out against the wind in the opening 40 minutes.

“We had the ball down there a lot there. A lot of it because they couldn’t seem to get it up, they had a problem getting it out of their box. But the biggest thing is we were able to hold on pressure on them,” Aske said. “The problem (playing) with the wind, it’s tough to get those shots on frame. We had a lot of shots that went wide or overhead. Against the wind sometimes you can get closer and your passes work better so you can get it where you need to be to get those shots.”

Hammer said playing into the teeth of the strong southerly wind actually helped the Eagles to set up better offense than when they had the wind at their backs.

“We couldn’t play through balls with the wind, because the ball would move too fast,” Hammer said, “but once we went against the wind we kind of had the through balls in our advantage.”

The win pushed Central over the .500 mark with a 4-3 record after a hard-fought loss last Saturday to Rapid City Stevens. The Golden Eagles will look to take their momentum into the second half of the season.

“We were happy for how we played at Stevens,” Hammer said, “and then we wanted to get this easy win to maybe get under our belt and maybe continue our wins into the rest of the season.”

The Eagles, who feature nine new starters this fall, are in a good spot, according to Aske said.

“We’re where we need to be,” he said, “and now we can start building toward the end.”

Huron 0 0 – 0

Aberdeen Central 6 4 – 10

First Half: 1, AC, Gracie Lozenski (Kamryn Arnesen, Kaylee Kiesow), 2nd minute; 2, AC, Ryelynn Hammer, 5th minute; 3, AC, Brianna Fischer, 17th minute; 4, AC, Kyley Stewart (Arnesen), 28th minute; 5, AC, Stewart (Keyana Stillman), 38th minute; 6, AC, Lozenski, 39th minute.

Second Half: 7, AC, Hammer, 40th minute; 8, AC, Kaylee Kiesow (Stewart), 49th minute; 9, AC, Emma Joachim, 64th minute; 10, AC, Arnesen, 69th minute.

Shots: Huron 0, 0 on goal; Aberdeen Central 60, 29 on goal.

Goalies: Huron, Baw Law Eh (11 saves), Wai Wai Lin (8 saves); Aberdeen Central, Kenley Stucke (0 saves), Ava Beck (0 saves).