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The first goal is always the toughest to come by.

After a number of miscues during the opening moments of Tuesday evening's Class 3A West quarterfinal against No. 10 John F. Kennedy High, the Tuscarora High girls soccer came alive and rolled to a 5-0 victory. No. 2 Tuscarora advances to face the winner of the Linganore – Damascus on Thursday.

"Once we got the one, the others seemed to come our way," Tuscarora head coach Mark Wolcott said.

Claire Kelly and Aaran Parry led Tuscarora with two goals and an assist apiece. Senior midfielder Sara Peron punched in the Titans' other score with a brilliant breakaway strike during the closing moments.

From the opening whistle on, the Titans pushed into Kennedy territory. The Cavaliers found great difficulty in clearing the ball on punts or goal kicks, allowing Tuscarora one opportunity after another.

"We don't want to make any excuses," Kelly said. "We just didn't play that well at first."

Flirting with the Kennedy net for most of the first half, Tuscarora, which failed to capitalize on a number of prime chances, finally got on the board when Kelly, a junior midfielder, scored on a feed from Parry with 4:04 remaining before halftime. The Titans led 1-0 at the break.

"It got us excited," Parry said of the goal. "It got us to keep pushing forward and try to hold our lead."

Tuscarora fullbacks Brittany Clemons, Kelsey Fletcher, Brittany Chatfield and Annie Wickett spent much the evening hovering around midfield, feeding the ball to their forward-advancing teammates.

They also shielded senior goalkeeper Sarah Jo Hayden, who didn't touch the ball for the initial 38 minutes, from danger. Hayden posted two saves in the shutout.

"It's a talented group of young ladies, Wolcott said. "They've been a very good core group together. They've been a large part of our success this year."

Senior keeper Tina Hartley kept Kennedy in the match with a number of acrobatic saves. She helped the Cavaliers to an 8-8 record just a year removed from finishing 2-12.

"I've been proud of these guys all season," Kennedy head coach Rita Boule said.

"We've had a great season, just day in and day out, they've just been terrific."