AUBURN HILLS >> The Auburn Hills Oakland Christian Lancers rolled to a convincing 3-0 victory over the Birmingham Roeper Roughriders in a D4 district semifinal on Tuesday evening.

The Lancers dominated possession, especially in the first half, and filled up the stat sheet. Led by the play of Taylor Ahn, Jessica Reyes, Val Santurtun, and Rowan Klein, Oakland Christian fired a staggering 30 shots in the first half, including 17 shots on frame. But it took 29 shots to finally score when Klein weaved through a few defenders on the left wing and slotted in a shot from about 12 yards out. That gave Oakland Christian a 1-0 lead with just 45 seconds remaining in the first half.

“That’s what the state tournament is about,” Lancers head coach Patrick Reyes said. “Teams are going to rise up and play really, really well. And I give Roeper a lot of credit; they came ready to play, and they made it very, very difficult for us in the first half. That just goes to show they wanted this just as much as we did, but thankfully we were able to break one open and kinda get things going as the game went on.”

The Lancers added two more goals early in the second half — another weaving effort by Klein that was reminiscent of her first goal, and a 30-yard chip shot from Jessica Reyes that slipped under the crossbar with 29:06 still to play.

Oakland Christian finished with 47 total shots, including 23 on frame. The Lancers also hit the crossbar three times and the left post once. But for the most part, the Roughrider defense, anchored by sophomore center back Gabby Webster, forced the Lancers to shoot from outside. That gave Roeper goalie Lydia Carlson a chance at almost every shot, and Carlson responded with a 20-save effort as the Roughriders managed to stay within striking distance.

“I think this is something this team is really good at doing, pressuring the ball. We have some skilled players in the back; even our midfielders work back and help out defensively,” Roeper head coach Tyler Pemberton said.

However, Roeper struggled to create many offensive chances. They did generate a few offensive zone set pieces, but they could not do much with them. In the end, the Roughriders struggled to test the Lancer goalkeeper as the Oakland Christian defense and midfield was able to consistently recycle possession when needed.

“I think that’s just one of the strengths of our team, that we’re able to do those types of things and possess the ball for long stretches of time. So I feel like if we can continue to do that and to limit the mistakes that we make and just remain patient then the good things will happen for us,” Coach Reyes said.

With the win, Oakland Christian improves to 9-4-3 overall and advances to Thursday’s district final, which it will host, against Clarkston Everest Collegiate.

Roeper finishes the year 9-8-2. The Roughriders will graduate seven seniors, including six starters.

“I’m proud of how we played,” Pemberton said. “I’m really happy with where we’re at conference-wise. I think we can compete with any of the better teams in this conference right now.”