North Stafford High School girls soccer coach Joanne Szymanski can gauge when one of her players needs a quick breather.

Often, it's when they aren't even out of breath.

Take yesterday, when sophomore sensation Brittany Croce got off to a bit of a rocky start against Massaponax. Her touch was a little off, her passes a little errant.

So Szymanski pulled Croce from the game, not for a reprimand, but for a revival.

"Brittany was kind of frustrated at first," Szymanski said. "She came off the field, kind of re-collected, and went back and played fantastic."

That Croce did.

She tallied three goals--one of which was utterly jaw-dropping--to propel the visiting Wolverines to a 7-3 nondistrict victory over the defending Battlefield District champion Panthers.

"Everybody played hard today," Croce said. "I think we could've controlled things a little better. But 7-3, we can't complain about that."

Massaponax's Lisa DuCote did everything she could in a losing cause, registering all three of her team's goals.

North Stafford (2-0) got its first strike in the 16th minute after Whitney Cornelius took a long clear and was brought down in the penalty box.

Marissa Mohammed put the ensuing free kick down the middle of the net to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.

Massaponax (3-1) had an answer six minutes later, as DuCote was tackled in the box. She got to her feet and popped the penalty kick into the right corner of the goal.

"I knew I was going to bury it," DuCote said. "I thought that gave us momentum, but they did really well by coming right back at us."

In the 25th minute, Croce completed a nifty give-and-go with Cornelius by the left sideline. After taking the return pass, Croce planted a shot low right to give North Stafford a 2-1 edge.

"Their outside midfielders were creating two-on-ones in the back, and that's not a good thing," Massaponax coach Jackie Gebhart said. "Anytime you get the extra runners down, you're putting the defense in a world of trouble."

North Stafford stretched its lead to 3-1 in the 34th minute when Niki Ingold fed Larren Lawson on the left side for a goal.

Four minutes later, Croce dazzled the crowd.