La Salle-Peru senior Vicky Tejada was virtually unstoppable in the opening 20 minutes of Friday’s girls soccer match between Streator and host La Salle-Peru at the L-P Sports Complex.

Tejada scored four times in that time span, then added another goal right before halftime to help lead the Cavaliers to a dominating 7-1 victory over the Bulldogs.

The sensational day for Tejada began in the eighth minute when she outran two defenders for the ball and put a hard shot from 15-yards out past Streator freshman keeper Leia Gammie.

“Today it was just about being around the ball, getting it, then dribbling to give myself space. From there it just waiting for the best time to shoot. I guess it worked out pretty well.”

In the 12th minute, Tejada worked the ball around a defender, the used a quick sidestep dribble to get past a charging Gammie.

“I work on my dribbling a lot,’ Tejada said. ”I use cones and work on moving the ball through them while maintaining a fast pace. I play soccer all year round, so I’m always working on some part of my game."

Streator cut the L-P lead in half in the 15th minute as Jordan Hatzer corralled a loose ball off a scramble in front and put it into an open net.

Tejada responded by scoring off back-to-back goals over the next five minutes, both on quick counter break-a-ways.

“When I get a breakaway, I’m always thinking about watching my speed,” Tejada said. “When I get to the [top of the penalty box] I start to slow down if I can. I’m waiting to see what the keeper is going to do. When I see the keeper start to step forward that’s when I want to shoot.”

The Cavaliers then used goals from Alexus Hines (20th minute) and Vizion Byrd (33rd minute) before Tejada hit the back of the net for the fifth time with 34 seconds remaining before halftime to put L-P up 7-1.

“(Tejada) been a very good player for us since she was a freshman. She has gotten better every season but that’s because she’s worked hard to be the player she is,” La Salle-Peru coach Christin Pappas said, her team now 3-1 on the season. “She showed the skill and speed she has right from the start today and it was fun to watch.

“I know Vicky had a huge match today, but we were really doing all of the team things. We were making the right passes, keeping space and shape and playing solid defense. We were able to take advantage of the wind at our backs in the first half and then did a great job of keeping Streator from scoring in the second half when they had the wind advantage.

“Overall, I’m happy with how we played today and excited to see us keep the momentum going.”

Each side had a couple of good chances in the final 40 minutes, but none of those opportunities produced goals.

L-P keeper Lily Higgins recorded six saves, while Gammie finished with five stops.

“The fact is No. 2 [Tejada] punched us in the mouth in the first 20 minutes. She’s a heck of a striker,” Streator coach J.T. Huey said, his squad falling to 0-3-1. “We just allowed her to capture the ball in space and then she used her skill and speed to get behind us.

“We did a much better job in the second half both offensively and defensively. This is a very young and experienced group, but they are learning. We didn’t handle the first half very well, but we talked about things at halftime and then I saw us doing those things in the second half.

“We had some really good moments today, now we just have to keep working on stretching out good moments. We’ll get there.”

L-P is right back in action at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday when it hosts Glenbard North. Streator is off until Tuesday when it travels to take on Rochelle.