Vanier's Olivia Moyse makes an attempt at the ball while surrounded by three Caronport defenders on Tuesday night.

The score might have been lopsided, but there was progress being made on both sidelines during Tuesday's Moose Jaw High School Girls Soccer match between the Vanier Spirits and Caronport Cougars.

Vanier came away with an 8-1 win at Smith Field, but both teams came away feeling confident in the way that they're playing at the midway point of the season.

“We're making steps and we're improving,” said Rob Appleby, Caronport head coach. “We've got a long way to go, but the girls are starting to get a little bit of confidence. They still need to work on individual ball skills, but are coming to understand the game a bit better.”

Caronport's first half goal from Karis Fawcett was the first time that they've scored on an opponent outside of the last place Estevan Elecs. That should give the young and inexperienced team a confidence boost as the move into the second half of the season.

“It was a good goal, then we had another one off the post, then we had a third one that could have easy gone in, so it wouldn't be unfair to say that we could have four goals, but it didn't work out that way,” said Appleby. “Kudos to the other team too, they got confidence as the game went on too, so it was a good game for both teams.”

Vanier entered the game after a strong showing at Soccerfest on the weekend when they finished fourth in the 'B' side pool. The team is sitting tied for second place in the league after their win and are playing some solid team soccer right now.

“We can play a very direct style, which is get the ball forward as quick as you can, and that goes well when you have good athletes, which we have a handful of very good athletes,” said Jason Jones, head coach of the Spirits. “I'm as happy as a coach could be with the game and the way it was played.”

Coming off a Soccerfest, the Spirits were focused on trying to improve their ball possession, which they were able to do against the Cougars, dominating the time on attack throughout the game.

“They did a very good job, especially in the second half, the ball movement was really good,” said Jones. “I was very happy with the pass to feet and the communication from the players off the ball moving a little bit to get into positions to receive a pass back.”

Jenna Coates powered the Spirits attack in the first half with three goals, while Kirah Brown added the other for a 4-0 lead heading into halftime. Olivia Moyse paced Vanier in the second half with a hat trick of her own, while Renae Snyder added the other Spirits' marker in the win.

Vanier now sits at 2-0-1 on the year, while Caronport drops to 1-4. The Spirits are off until Saturday when they take on Estevan and Swift Current and the Cougars will be back on the field on Thursday to face off with the Central Cyclones.