The floodgates opened for the St. Michael's Lady Horsemen, and it's about time.

Freshman Alicia DeLeon-Dowd recorded a hat trick to lead a goal parade in an 8-0 win over Capital on Tuesday in the Santa Fe City Soccer Championships at Jaguar Field.

The win evens St. Michael's record at 2-2, but more important is that the team has 13 goals in the last two matches after being shut out for the first 185 minutes of the season.

"I think it makes huge difference," Lady Horsemen head coach Ed Velie said. "I tallied it up in Farmington, and 185 minutes is a long time without a goal, especially when you're getting 30 shots."

St. Michael's fired 21 shots against the Lady Jaguars
(0-1), but the score was only 3-0 after 58 minutes. That's when the barrage began, as the Lady Horsemen scored five times. Three of the scores came in the final six minutes.

Outside of DeLeon-Dowd, five Lady Horsemen had goals — Cristiana Gabaldon, Kate Vadurro, Griffin Cullen Jami Hogan and Sally Feldewert.

It was the third goal of the season for Feldewert, who started in the field for the first half before playing goalkeeper.

Missing from the lineup were Michelle Bustamante, who sprained her ankle in Farmington, and Liana Coppola, who has struggled with back problems.

Coppola could be back for Thursday's match against Santa Fe High after a visit to a chiropractor.

"She's taking a couple of days off, but we wanted her to take like 10 days," Velie said. "She saw a chiropractor and she feels like she'll be back in a couple of days. I think she just had her back out of alignment and just played through it."

VOLLEYBALL

SANTA FE PREP 3, NACA 0

The Blue Griffins viewed the season opener for both programs as a dress rehearsal for the rest of the season.

The emphasis was on preparation as Santa Fe Prep breezed past Native American Community Academy 25-6, 25-1, 25-17.

"All the pre-match stuff and practices have mentally prepared us," Blue Griffins head coach Diana Ronquillo said. "How does it all look and what do you do during the day and before the match. This gives us a chance to put a lot of concepts of preparation into action. Now that this one is done, we're telling the girls, 'We prepare and compete and put that one behind us.' "

One thing Ronquillo plans on using this season is a nine-player rotation, so that she can better define roles for her reserves. She tinkered with her lineups throughout the match.

"Nine's my favorite number as a coach," Ronquillo said. "You can create roles for everybody and not have to look down at the bench and see you didn't play someone."