SHELBY TOWNSHIP >> The Utica Eisenhower Eagles rolled past the Stoney Creek Cougars 4-0 in the opening round of D1 districts Wednesday night at Swinehart Field.

Stoney Creek started strong and even hit the crossbar less than five minutes into the game. But from then on, the Eagles slowly took over the game playing a bit better in each segment of play, and near the end of the first half, they finally broke through on the scoreboard. The increased pressure produced a turnover, and Devyn Raymond pounced on the poor clearing attempt to rifle a quick shot into the net from 30 yards out.

That gave Eisenhower the lead with 10:48 remaining in the first half. The Eagles doubled their lead about seven minutes later when Maryn Smith took a cross, juggled once to settle the ball a bit, then snapped a volley home from near the penalty spot. That gave Eisenhower a 2-0 lead and seemed to take the air out of the Cougars.

“I thought we stared a little bit slow, and we got lucky the first five minutes. They (Stoney Creek) hit the crossbar, and if they would have scored, that would have changed the momentum for sure. But after that the girls woke up,” Eagles head coach Mehrdad Nekoogar said. “As they started getting their legs back, we started playing our game. We had a lot of chances. (Their) goalie did outstanding.”

Stoney Creek had struggled to score pretty much all year — the Cougars were held off the board 11 times heading into Wednesday, including a 2-0 loss to the Eagles on April 17 in Rochester Hills — and this game was no different. They could get up and down the field for much of the first half, remained unable to find the last one or two touches in the final third to turn possession into scoring chances. Once they went down a pair of goals, things looked grim.

“We just couldn’t get out of that first half and that final 10 minutes before the half,” Cougars head coach Bryan Mittelstadt said. “The kids gave it a fight. They played hard. I though the first 25, 30 minutes was top quality and a strong showing for us. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the offseason, things we need to work on. But we knew, offensively, what Ike brings to the table. We weren’t going to get a lot of shots, but the ones that we had, we really had to get on the end of them.”

The Cougars came out quick at the start of the second half and created one or two good chances early, but then Eisenhower got a third goal — a beautiful header by Ellera Jakubowski that went back across the face of goal. That seemed to permanently put the Cougars on the back foot.

Stoney Creek kept fighting, but spent most of the remaining time fighting off one attacking wave of Eagles after another and never really got forward again until the final few minutes. By then, Lily Pantaleo had added another goal for Eisenhower to complete the scoring.

“We are a good attacking team, and if we get some luck sometimes going our way, we can really create a lot of opportunities in the front (of goal),” Nekoogar said.

Merrick Schwalbach was outstanding in net for the Cougars, making 11 saves, calling out marks, and generally doing everything possible to keep her team close. But eventually, Eisenhower just had too much time on the ball running at the Stoney Creek net.

The Eagles (16-2) now move on to next week’s district semifinals to be held at Rochester Adams High School. Eisenhower will face the Rochester Falcons in a game currently slated for next Wednesday.

“They’ve been playing as a team,” Nekoogar said. “We have said it from day one: Our team is just about go out there and play the best you can.”

Stoney Creek finished the season 4-11-3 against a very tough schedule. The Cougars had a young team this season — starting six freshmen against Eisenhower — and will be looking to grow in the offseason.

“It’s one of those years, things maybe haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go. But I felt like every game we showed up; we battled; we gave it everything we could,” Mittelstadt said. “But our kids stuck together as a team.” He added that, “I think we’ve gotten stronger. We’ve learned a lot, and we’ve grown. I just look forward to next season and appreciate what the seniors do, and there is definitely some youth in the program.”