The 8-0 mark includes six shutouts- Park has allowed two goals all year, one to Marietta and one to Bridgeport, W.Va.– to sit at a goal differential of +33 on the season.

“I think with every single game we’ve played this year we’ve gotten better,” Wheeling Park head coach Tom Smith said. “As far as the results go, yeah, of course we want to win.

“More importantly though, the thing I’m most proud of is our goal differential and the fact that we’ve allowed two goals because as good as our offense is, the backbone of our team is our defense. And you have Lakin [Chambers] as our sweeper. She’s the backbone of the team. Elli [Robinson], Juni [Gandee] and Sarah [Craycraft] all compliment each other very well. Really proud of Lakin. She’s only a 5-foot-2 sophomore, but plays with the confidence and swagger of a senior captain.”

Seniors Hailey Hastings and Riley Perry have also been constants for Wheeling Park.

Smith says that his team has improved every game, and Tuesday’s 10 goals were indeed a season-high for the Patriots.

“As a team, I think we’re finally starting to work together and I think we’re all friends, so that helps in terms of team bonding and chemistry,” Dunaway said. “And I think we have some quality players who know how to put the ball down and know where to be positionally. It really does help.”

Nevertheless, Park isn’t basking in their past victories, even ones over a rival. The Patriots are looking onward to their next game– which comes against a different rival when they travel to face John Marshall on Thursday.

“I coach the girls one game at a time,” Smith said. “Obviously, you know, we have expectations of earning a good record so we can gain home field advantage for a state run. First up is the OVAC, which is in about two weeks, I believe, and that’s going to be our focus for right now and after that we’ll focus on states and the tournament.”

Wheeling Park last won a girls soccer state championship in 2015. Last season, they finished 15-5-1 and fell in a sectional championship game against the Mohigans in a game that came down to a golden goal.

“My goal is just to help the team to the best of my abilities in terms of getting down to state,” Dunaway said. “I think that would be really neat and a good opportunity for us. And I’m just doing my best to help the team.”

Dunaway scored 33 goals with 12 assists on her way to being named WVHSSCA Girls AAA Player of the Year last year, and after back-to-back five-goal games against Morgantown and Bridgeport, the senior is on pace for even gaudier numbers this season.

On Tuesday, amongst Dunaway’s preponderance of goals, junior Corin McFarland scored two goals, while Chambers, Molly Bradshaw and Brenna Tipton all scored one apiece.

Wheeling Park outshot Morgantown 16-3.

“The first 20 minutes we played really well with our ball possession, ball movement,” Smith said. “To the coaches’ credit, they made a change in the second part of the first half where they marked up on our sweeper and that gave us a little bit of confusion. So we kind of needed halftime to regroup and after that we regrouped and played well in the second half.

“We’re starting to gel. I’m never satisfied, to put it that way, so there’s things to work on and we need to keep improving.”