The Missouri Reign secured its first win of the season in a 3-0 shutout over Junction FC on Saturday. 

Holland Hawkins set the tone early with a goal in the fourth minute off a pass by Georgia Pardalos. The Reign (1-0-2) did not look back from there. Another goal from Hawkins in the 20th minute, giving her a second brace of the young season, and a goal by Pardalos in the 24th minute were too much to handle for Junction FC (0-0-3), which has now been outscored 17-0 in its first three games. Getting off to faster starts has been an area of focus for the Reign this season.

“One of our stated goals has been we would like to start games better,” Reign coach Dakota Acock said. “Having three goals in the first 24 minutes was great to see.”

The second half, though no goals were scored, had its fair share of action. Junction played better in the second half, with the game seeing a more even time of possession in the second 45 minutes. The Reign had many good looks on goal, but the shots just weren’t falling. This, along with two yellow cards (Joya Azzi and Yazmin Baird-Watson) and committing other fouls in the second half, likely gave Junction more confidence. The fouls gave FC plenty of scoring chances on free kicks. In the 66th minute, from 33 yards out, Junction’s Rebecca Rheinheimer took a shot to the right side of the goal, but Reign goalie Maria Melendez made a diving save - her first of two consecutive impressive saves on shots from Rheinheimer; the other came in the 69th minute. Had it not been for Melendez standing on her head, the result of the game could have been different.

In a game like this, it can become somewhat like a practice when the game is already out of reach. The Reign controlled this game from the start. Acock said because of this, they wanted to work on becoming a more versatile team and get others involved.

The story of the first half belonged to both Hawkins and Pardalos. Hawkins has now scored four goals in just three total games for the Reign this season. She and Pardalos both had three goal contributions. Acock was pleased with the way they played.

“Hawkins and Pardalos have done well to play off each other,” Acock said. “We are starting to build chemistry in the final third.”

Building chemistry in the attacking third will lead to better goal-scoring opportunities for the Reign. Hawkins and Pardalos displayed some of that chemistry with a little give-and-go action from Pardalos to Hawkins and then back to Pardalos that set up her goal in the 24th minute.

In the 90th minute, the Reign nearly made it 4-0. Kayla Juengermann’s shot hit off the crossbar in the top right corner and bounced down right to Hawkins’ leg with a wide open net in front of her. However, she was unable to handle the ball cleanly, as scoring a hat trick still eludes her.

The Reign next battle Peoria City (1-0-2), which is coming off a 7-0 victory over Junction on Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Peoria, Illinois.