Myrtle Beach girls soccer routs Gilbert in playoff opener

The climb up the girls soccer ranks in South Carolina is no easy task.

After all, among the 15 state titles won over the last five years between the three classes, they’ve been divvied up across just seven schools.

Myrtle Beach believes it has a chance to add its name to a distinguished list.

The Seahawks beat Gibert 6-0 at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in the opening round of the Class AAA playoffs Monday night on the strength of a four-goal performance from Tristan Gordon. It was an expected result, as Myrtle Beach has advanced to at least the second round in nine of past 10 seasons. To get to the next level, though, first-year coach Blair Mueller knows it’s time for her team to play its best ball of the year.

“If we stay healthy,” said Mueller when asked if this team could be one to make a run. “We have a really young team, but we have a team that is gelled. Everyone wants to go out and play for each other, and they all fight.”

While the win over the Indians assured nothing more than a second-round game, it was a solid start nonetheless.

Gordon scored the first of her goals less than four minutes into the game. She added her second with under six to go in the first half. Her third and fourth came in a span inside of a span of four minutes midway through the second half.

Marisa Bruno added one of her own (in between Gordon’s third and fourth) and Amit Shitrit capped off the scoring with one more Seahawks strike with three minutes to play.

“We kind of feel better because we have more confidence in ourselves going forward,” Gordon said. “I don’t ever think it’s going to be like that.”

Mueller, a first-time varsity coach, is no stranger to high-level soccer. She followed up her standout playing career at North Myrtle Beach – where she was twice named The Sun News’ Toast of the Coast Player of the Year – by becoming one of the best soccer players in Coastal Carolina history.

There, she was named to the Big South’s All-Decade Team for the 2000s after earning all-conference honors three times.

She tries not to equate her playing past with her current coaching situation, but she knows goal scorers, and she saw one put on a show Monday.

“Tristan is fast. She knows the game and she reads the defense very well,” Mueller said. “She decides when she is going to go and she decides when she is going to stay back and wait. I think that is her talent. … She’s got a lot of raw talent.”

Myrtle Beach will play Beaufort – a 10-0 winner over Marlboro County – in the second round on Wednesday at Doug Shaw. If the seeds hold, it will be a road trip to Brookland-Cayce, another of the state’s regular final playoff teams.

That’s the group Myrtle Beach hopes to join once again after another stellar regular season and fast playoff start.

In the last 10 seasons, the Seahawks won seven region titles. They added another one this year by going 10-0 against Region VII-AAA competition. It earned Myrtle Beach a No. 6 state ranking heading into the playoffs and an all-important No. 1 seed.

Now, the Seahawks believe they can do something special with it.

“I think they’re ready,” Mueller said. “I think they’ll do very well. We’ll see.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2015 at 8:56 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach girls soccer routs Gilbert in playoff opener."