LAFAYETTE >> Enthusiasm is sometimes hard to measure with a stat sheet, but Jefferson Academy girls soccer seems to have worked out that formula incredibly well.

In their first three games of the 2024 season since clinching the 3A state title last spring, the Jaguars have knocked in 29 goals, all while keeping their first three opponents scoreless. On Tuesday night at Peak to Peak, they improved to a 3-0 record with a 9-0 thumping of the Pumas.

Despite the final score, the Pumas could take solace in one small victory. They forced the Jaguars to play the full 80 minutes instead of allowing them to invoke the 10-goal mercy rule, something that Middle Park and Pomona couldn’t manage before them.

“They’re good competition,” Jaguars senior Gianna Gagliano said. “It’s great for us to play against a team like them, where we can get out and we have a little more pressure on us than normal.”

Gagliano, JA’s top returning scorer, netted two goals as juniors Elsa Nygren and Brianna Kozlowski each added two more of their own. Kozlowski padded her stat sheet a bit more with an assist, as junior Marlo Campbell, freshman Maggie Chandler and junior Ella Pajor all got in on the scoring action as well.

Gagliano said that confidence has remained high since her team pulled out the championship a year ago, and the final victory at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park only made her and her teammates hungrier for another one.

The nine goals that she alone has driven into the net so far has more than proven that fact.

“Over the offseason, we did a lot of kick-arounds, just the usual stuff,” Gagliano said. “I think everyone kind of showed up ready to go. We want a two-peat. We want to do it again, so I think that attitude has really helped us in our first three games.”

Peak to Peak, for its part, suffered its first setback of the season after previously taking down Frontier Academy with a 3-0 decision. Sophomore goalkeeper Vandy Wang, in her second year in the varsity goal box, added a little extra flair to her game with impressive save after impressive save.

She believes that once her Pumas get a little more into mid-season form, they can make a run within the ever-tough Metro League.

“(JA is) a lot faster, and I just guess we weren’t exactly prepared for that. The team we played last, they were, I guess, more strong on the defense point, while JA is more strong with their forwards and just speeding right down the sides,” Wang said. “With our strikers and our (midfielders), I feel like there’s a couple of players that I think have a lot of potential. We just need to practice more and focus in on their position specifically.”