Staff photo / Dan Hiner Poland’s Amber Hawkins tries to gather a bouncing ball during the first half against Struthers on Thursday at Dave Pavlansky Field in Poland.

POLAND — It’s easier to win in soccer when you maintain possession. The Poland girls soccer team didn’t just do that; it dominated possession.

The Bulldogs got plenty of chances as they beat Struthers 9-0 at Dave Pavlansky Field in Poland on Thursday night.

“We just gotta get better,” Poland head coach Neil Huda said. “We aren’t doing everything the way it should be done yet, and hoping by the time the second half of the season rolls around, we can get what needs to be done fixed.”

Delaney Ankeles scored the first goal of the game with 25:36 to play in the first half. She took a pass from Julianna McDougal after the Bulldogs hemmed the Wildcats into their own third for a 10-minute stretch.

McDougal added a goal of her own just over a minute later to put Poland ahead 2-0.

Poland (3-1-1, 3-1 Northeast 8) extended its lead to 3-0 when Kennedy Henderson sent a crosser from the right corner toward the center of the box, and Ashlynn Kushner was in position to tap it in for a score with just under 18 minutes to play in the first half.

Ellie Lewis scored off an assist from Addie Demain from just outside the box to push the Bulldogs’ lead to 4-0 with 9:22 remaining before the break.

Then Ankeles scored her second goal two minutes later. She took a pass down the left sideline and made herself perpendicular to the face of the net along the back of the end zone. She had just enough room to get off a shot from a tight angle.

Poland’s offensive assault continued when Elliana Thompson drove to the net and scored with seven minutes before halftime, putting the Bulldogs in position to trigger the running clock.

Ankeles recorded the hat trick when she scored once again from inside the end zone with just over three minutes left in the half.

“She’s a great player,” Huda said. “Love the way she works, love her attitude. It’s great to have her. Everybody needs a person who can finish the ball, and we’re lucky to have her.”

Henderson and Sabrina Metzinger closed the scoring with goals in the final 13 minutes of the game.

“Soccer is all possession,” Struthers head coach Ron Bartholomew said. “If you can’t possess the ball, it’s gonna be a long day. So that’s something we gotta work on, we know that. I think we got a lot better.

“We play very good teams. Our conference is very, very competitive … very tough. And you’ll see that at the end of the year when we’re in the playoffs. We gave our best today. We’ll see Poland again.”

It’s been an up-and-down stretch for the Wildcats (2-4, 1-4).

Struthers dropped its first two games of the season after back-to-back losses to Niles. The Wildcats beat South Range, then lost to Girard before beating LaBrae on Tuesday.

“We take every game day by day, and we have a lot of inexperienced players – first-time players – and sometimes they need to see how things go, put it together,” Bartholomew said. “They’re seeing a lot of different talent, a lot of teams, and every team plays soccer different. So when you’re just learning a program and get different looks out there, sometimes we get lucky, we can figure it out, and sometimes like today, it’s an eye-opener. Next time, hopefully we can put on a better show.”

Meanwhile, Poland rebounded from its first loss of the year, a 2-1 meeting with Niles.

“They try to get better,” Huda said. “If something’s not working, they try to fix it … in the game, they try to fix it. … They want to work to get better, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The Bulldogs are back in action on Monday with a trip to Lakeview. And the Wildcats also play on Monday when they host Hubbard.