It was supposed to take a lot longer than their inaugural season to even make the playoffs or think about winning a conference championship.

But Woodland is just built differently, and they showed that as the Woodland Community College men’s soccer team (9-0-1) led by head coach Andres Olmedo accomplished both of those feats ahead of schedule thanks to a whopping 10-1 victory over Bay Valley Conference foe Merritt College (1-9) Friday evening at the Woodland Community & Senior Center.

With the win, the Eagles have, at the very least, clinched a share of the BVC title. Napa Valley is right behind them with a record of 7-2-1.

Duirng a season filled with a laundry list of “firsts,” such as the first game, first win, first conference win and first winning streak, Olmedo is delighted to cross off two massive items a little earlier than expected.

“Honestly, my initial goal was just to form a competitive team to start the year, play a game and then see what happens,” Olmedo said. “But after the second game, and as the conference games went on, I thought we’d have a good chance to make it into the playoffs.”

After amassing nine Bay Valley Conference league wins in the past 10 games, the Woodland Community College men’s soccer team rapidly ascended from the inaugural season feel-good story to now formidable co-conference champions.

“I’m super proud of the team,” Olmedo said. “They have worked so hard this year practicing in the heat for those first few practices and then dealing with a bunch of things happening behind the scenes. I’m proud of their willingness to go out there and play, perform and make some history for the program.

“When I won my first college game, I joked with them that now that I have my first game, let’s win a conference,” Olmedo continued. “They were up for the challenge and made it happen.”

The Eagles have shredded conference play during the past few weeks coming into their game against Merrit. Following their first conference win on Sept. 26 over College of Marin, a 3-2 thriller, the Eagles reeled off six-straight wins, a 1-1 tie and then another win over Contra Costa on Halloween.

During the streak, they enjoyed a 4-2 road win over Napa Valley on Oct. 3, a 5-1 win over Contra Costa on Oct. 6 and a 6-0 road win over Merrit on Oct. 10.

The Eagles could not have had a better start Friday as they scored three goals in the game’s opening 10 minutes.

Marco Cervantez kicked things off with a goal in the second minute to make it 1-0. Two minutes later, Ricardo Diaz got the first goal of his hat trick thanks to an assist from Ronaldo Huerta. In the 9th minute, Huerta was assisted by Guillermo Avina and made it 3-0.

The goals just kept coming for the Eagles. In the 15th minute, Diaz completed his brace to make it 4-0.

15 minutes into the start of the second half, the Eagles drew a penalty and let Santos Ruiz convert it with a nice cool finish into the bottom left corner to make it 5-0. Diaz then completed his hat trick and made it 6-0 one minute later, thanks to an assist from Francisco J. Ramirez.

Diaz collected his fourth of the game in the 63rd minute to make it 7-0, courtesy of a pass from Oscar Ayala. In the 72nd minute, Jose Alvarez became the fifth different Eagle to find the net when he made it 8-0 on an assist from Diego Hernandez.

Merritt College didnt leave empty-handed, however, and scored a sensational goal into the top right corner to avoid the shutout and make it 8-1.

However, the Eagles must have felt slighted and poured on two more goals.

In the 84th minute, Ramirez became the sixth Eagle with a goal thanks to pouncing on a rebound in the box and slotting home an excellent finish into the bottom corner of the net.

As the game was in its closing stages, Gilberto Silva rounded out the Eagles’ performance with the tenth goal, courtesy of an Angel Negrete assist.

Next for the Eagles will be two challenging final conference games against Yuba College (3-6) on the road on Nov. 7 and the home finale against Medocino (6-4) on Nov. 9 before the start of the postseason.

“I told the kids that we have achieved one of our big goals, so the next step is to get some momentum going into the playoffs,” Olmedo said. “We know we will be playing a tough team, so if we ease up in these final two games, we know it will be costly in the first round.”