Staff photo / Brad Emerine Boardman junior striker Kathryn Taghaboni, left, prepares to score her team’s fifth goal of the first half Monday night during a 7-0 win over host Warren G. Harding.

WARREN — After two tough results, the Boardman High School girls soccer team was looking forward to winning its first contest Monday night against Warren G. Harding at Mollenkopf Stadium.

But coach Mark D’Eramo was more adamant about having his squad play to its potential than about earning a win.

To the delight of D’Eramo, the Spartans accomplished both goals, rolling to a 7-0 victory.

“We faced a lot of adversity in our first two games and came away with a pair of 1-1 ties against Lake and Fitch, and in each of them, the goal we allowed was on a (penalty kick),” D’Eramo said. “So we wanted to clean up the back and not have up any opportunities to foul in the box. You know, we didn’t play poorly in either of the ties, it was just a few anxious moments in the box where we fouled and that’s the difference between being 3-0 and 1-0-2.

“We got back to the basics and come out here and played the way I know we can and put together a clean sheet. Our passing was good and we executed the game plan the way we wanted to. It was a good building game for us moving forward because we have some big matches coming up.”

Junior striker Kathryn Taghaboni scored or assisted in four of her team’s five first-half goals. She finished with three goals and a pair of assists.

“Kathryn is incredible, a great striker,” D’Eramo said. “She holds the ball up and has some of the best finishing I’ve ever seen on the high school level. She can score with her head or either foot. She’s an all-around great striker. She’s had an amazing start and we’re looking forward to her continuing to do great things.”

Freshman Sarah Blasco scored two goals and added an assist. Kendell Scriber and Nadia Rawhneh also scored goals, while Ashley Harding added two assists and Emma Tokarsky contributed one helper.

“Ultimately, the goal is to win every single game,” D’Eramo said. “But that’s not how things work in high school or in soccer, so the goal is that we’re going to compete hard, believe in our abilities to win and improve with every game. So far, that’s happened. We’ve played better every time we’ve played a game. We want to keep that trajectory.”

The Spartans will have a big test Saturday at home against North Canton Hoover, starting a string of big games.

“Hoover has beaten Fitch and Canfield already, so we’ll see where we stand on Saturday and kind of use it as an early-season gauge,” D’Eramo said. “Then we’ve got games with Mooney, West Branch and Canfield following that, so we’re headed into a stretch of big games and we’ll see how much we’ve grown early and see what adjustments we need to make after that. But I’m really happy with what we did tonight and the improvements we’ve made so far.”

In addition to being young in the middle of the field, the Spartans also are breaking in some new faces on the back line in front of senior goalkeeper Serene Khatib.

“We’re relying on Serene, who is an excellent keeper back there, and our senior center back Emma Tokarsky,” D’Eramo said. “Emma is a big leader and a vocal leader in the back as a senior captain. She does well organizing. With her and Serene in the back controlling things, it makes it easier for the younger girls around them to develop and mature.

“Serene is a great goalie, but in a game like tonight with little action in front of them, they have to keep reminding the younger girls to no take plays off or lose focus.”

Khatib made just one save as the Spartans had a 30-3 advantage in shots, including a 19-1 margin in shots on goal.

“Boardman is an excellent team and it’s tough because we’ve started against three very good teams in Mooney, Ursuline and now Boardman,” Harding coach Kevin Brown said. “Mooney and Ursuline are very good, but we competed well against both of them, especially in the first half of both games. But tonight (Boardman) totally dominated us and it’s unfortunate because it was senior night.

“Everyone has kind of gone to making senior night an early home game because no one is certain how long the season will last. So we had a bit of a different lineup out there, but that’s no excuse. We just need to continue to work and get better. But boy, Boardman was excellent tonight.”