The 3A Conference soccer state tournament for girls doesn’t start until March 10, but the favorite may have emerged Thursday night.

The Northwest Christian Crusaders were ranked No. 3 heading into their home match against No. 2 Veritas Prep. But as the results came in Thursday, it’s likely that Northwest Christian will move into the No. 1 spot after it rolled past another opponent and current No. 1 Scottsdale Christian lost.

The Crusaders jumped on Veritas Prep quickly and didn’t let up during their 7-1 victory. Making quick work of an opponent is nothing new for the Phoenix program, which has outscored teams 95-2 so far.

“It’s not easy,” said veteran Northwest Christian soccer coach Jeff Penzone. “That (Veritas Prep) is a good side. They move the ball well. They hustled. One of the things that we’ve been very fortunate to do is have the girls focused and do the job that needs to be done. When they are able to do that from the back all the way to the front and are focused, we are a tough side.”

Thursday’s attack was spearheaded by the very skilled Ellie Johannes.

The sophomore scored four of her teams goals, raising her season total to 36.

“We didn’t let anyone’s record scare us, and we went out as a team, fought as a team and won as a team,” Johannes said.

On Thursday, Northwest Christian (9-0) conceded its second goal of the year, a penalty in the 15th minute.

But 34 seconds later Northwest Christian’s Whitney Wilson drove a right-footed shot in from just inside the 18-yard box to push her team’s lead to 3-1 and coast the rest of the way.

Highlights from Northwest Christian's big soccer day: https://twitter.com/AZPreps365Jose/status/1362640703474388996

Northwest Christian boys also win

The Northwest Christian soccer programs doubled up on Veritas Prep.

The boys kicked things off Thursday with a 1-0 hard fought victory over a physical Veritas Prep team. Sophomore Andrew Mayer scored the only goal of the game in the 6th minute.

Lukas Gauharou wound up controlling a goal kick from Veritas Prep near midfield, dribbled down the middle and then dished it off to Mayer, who quickly crossed it in.

“It was a pretty rough match,” Mayer said. “We got lucky a couple of times. They put up a good fight, but we were able to pull through.”

Andrew Mayer, Northwest Christian

Northwest Christian goalkeeper Bryce Medina made a fabulous save in the opening minutes of the second half to help preserve the victory.

On the play, the sophomore dove to his right to redirect a shot that was heading toward the upper left corner of the net.

The win improved No. 3 ranked Northwest Christian’s record to 8-0-1, while Veritas Prep dropped to 6-3.

“We couldn’t string a pass together and our first touch was off,” said Northwest Christian coach Jeremy Witt about his team being held to its lowest scoring output this season. “We didn’t get any good shots on frame. Once we clean that up we should be OK.”

Three cards were handed out to Veritas Prep after the match ended.

Two of those cards were red for something that was said the referee.