The Oaks Christian girls’ soccer team started off a busy week with a bang.

Facing Tri-Valley League rival Oak Park on Monday at OPHS, the first-place Lions overcame several missed opportunities during a scoreless opening half before exploding for three goals after intermission en route to a 3-0 victory.

“The game was frustrating at first, having missed two breakaways early on,” said Oaks Christian senior midfielder Kelly Johnson, who sent a shot off the post in the closing seconds of the first half only to rebound with a pair of second-half scores.

“But we all stayed composed. It was a tough fight, and (Oak Park) is a good team.”

Monday’s victory was the first of four league matches for OCHS this week. On Tuesday, the Lions tied La Reina 2-2 at Cal Lutheran. Oaks Christian played at Fillmore on Wednesday and is slated to host La Reina on Friday.

The Lions, who were 8-0-1 in league and 12-3-4 overall entering the Fillmore match, wrap up the regular season Wed., Feb. 10 at Carpinteria.

Against Oak Park, Oaks Christian’s lone seniors, Johnson and defender Lauren Lindstrom, got the scoring started in the 48th minute on a beautiful connection from long range.

On the play, Lindstrom launched a free kick right at Johnson from 45 yards out. Johnson arrived at the sailing kick before the Eagle defense and was able to head the ball past Oak Park’s goalkeeper.

“If there’s a free kick around the 50, I’ll look up and see her running around pointing at her head,” Lindstrom said of Johnson. “I see her, put it up, and she just gets there. We’ve done it before.”

Johnson and Lindstrom are best friends and team co-captains. Their bond on and off the pitch is truly out of this world.

“We have this twin telepathy thing going on where we’ll say the same thing at the exact same time,” Johnson said.

“We’ve done it a couple of times throughout the years where she’ll take a free kick and we just look at each other and think, ‘Okay, we’re going to score,’ and we do. I couldn’t have asked for a better ball.”

Oaks Christian’s second goal came 10 minutes later courtesy of a one-time header by standout junior forward Ally Courtnall. The assist was credited to sophomore midfielder Katianna Tron.

In the 70th minute, Johnson struck again for Oaks Christian’s third goal of the evening. Junior halfback Jaci Mello earned the assist.

Sophomore goalkeeper Julia Rich and the Lions’ defense were as dominant as ever against Oak Park, allowing the Eagles very few scoring chances—Rich made only three saves.

“Their bench is deep, and they have a lot of talented players,” Oak Park head coach Mark Zeolla said. “We get worn out by them in the second half. They’re such a tough team to play because they’re so quick. They make you use a lot of speed the entire game.”

Oak Park carried a 10-6-5 overall record and 6-3 mark in TVL play into Wednesday’s match at Carpinteria.

Both Oaks Christian and Oak Park were ranked in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division 5 coaches’ poll, with OCHS occupying the top spot and Oak Park positioned in sixth.