WINONA LAKE – For the second night in a row, Lakeland Christian Academy skipper Nat Raber didn’t like how his team started. But for the second night in a row, Raber walked off the pitch on the right side of a blowout win.

LCA used nearly identical sequences from sisters Jessi and Tori Calizo to build up and tear down Central Noble, 5-0, Tuesday afternoon in girls soccer action.

Raber and the Lady Cougars had to wait nearly 45 minutes to get the match underway as Central Noble pushed its boundaries of gamesmanship by showing up almost 30 minutes late. With LCA sitting in the heat waiting to start, the officiating crew determined the match would be pared down to 30-minute halves with water breaks at the 15-minute marks of each half. With the match essentially worked into quarters, Raber didn’t see a hot start, but saw what has quickly become his team’s M.O.

In the first 15 minutes of the contest, LCA produced 12 scoring chances but only one resulted in a goal as the Cougars led just 1-0 at the first break. The home side fired off seven shots on target, creating plenty of chaos in front of and around the net, but just a connection from Jessi Calizo to big sister Tori Calizo in the 11th minute had a goal on the scoreboard.

But the Calizo connection would strike again, and again, and again.

In what was the intent of the LCA attack to what Central Noble was surprisingly allowing nearly every build up, Jessi received passes in space and bolted down the sideline with her head on a swivel. A free cross into the box found big sis in the 22nd minute for a one-touch banger. That scoreline stood until halftime, but the mood of the 2-0 lead felt like much more.

“We just don’t start quickly,” Raber stated. “Most of the time, it takes a goal to get us going, one way or another. Normally, we give up the first one, and that’s been our M.O. early on. So it’s good to score first and carry the clean sheet through. If we can put pressure on the top, that allows our defense to rest and that helps on a hot day like today.”

A 15-2 shots on target advantage in the first half took its toll on the Central defense. Dressing just 11 coming into the match and playing a man down for much of the first half with Hannah Rose on the bench with an injury, the visitors couldn’t keep pace. The fleet-footed Jessi continued to work down the flank and send crosses inward, one banging off the crossbar, and two more finding Tori, who buried her third goal five minutes into the second half and her fourth four minutes later.

In total, Jessi Calizo racked up eight shots on goal to go with four assists while Tori Calizo had 11 shots and four goals.

“Part of it is being sisters and knowing how to communicate and knowing where the other one is going to be,” Raber said of the Calizo magic. “They trust each other. They work off each other so well. We see it in practice all the time. They are both really special.”

Anna Reimink, who may have played the most important role in the match in gathering a lion’s share of Central’s clearances from the penalty area, scored the fifth goal in the 40th minute before settling into a defensive role for the final quarter.

After walloping Whitko 7-1 on Monday with a 25-shot barrage, LCA hung 42 chances and 31 on frame Tuesday against a shellshocked Central side. Full marks to Central keeper Maddi Bremer, who made 24 saves and kept the score more respectable than it could have been.

Maddie Paris had to make just three stops in the game for her first clean slate of the season, only facing one solidly struck ball.

“I thought whoever scored first on a hot day like today would get the upper hand,” Raber said. “When you sit around for an hour in the heat waiting, after they have been ready to go, naturally they pressed a little more than we would have liked to see. But they responded very well, hard to argue a 5-0 result on any occasion.”

LCA moves to 4-0-1 on the season and will likely get a stiffer test Thursday when it hosts Wawasee.