The University of Redlands women’s soccer team kicked off the 2011 season with a bang, crushing the Lady Red of Carthage College (WI) in 7-1 performance on Friday afternoon.

The Bulldog offense came out firing and totaled 33 shots, including 18 in the first half.

Senior forward Maddy Phillips (Seattle, WA) initiated the scoring for the Maroon and Gray by taking advantage of a penalty kick at the 17:18-mark.

Redlands stayed on the attack, posting another netter a mere 5:17 later as senior forward Kaily Benenati (Denver, CO) pushed the Bulldogs’ lead to 2-0. Phillips collected her third point of the game when she tossed an assist to Benenati.

With a sweet left-shelf score, junior forward Samantha Rivera (Thousand Oaks, CA) completed the Bulldogs’ first-half hat trick. Junior midfielder Meghan King (Portland, OR) registered a point on the play by feeding the ball to Rivera.

Carthage posted its first goal of the season when freshman midfielder Jessica Socha (Crestwood, IL) scored off an indirect kick during the 70^th minute of play.

The U of R quickly responded to the Lady Red’s attack, ripping off four unanswered goals in the final 21 minutes. Phillips tallied her fifth point of the day by scoring the Bulldogs’ fourth goal.  The Rivera-King combination teamed up for a second time in the game, with King finding the back of the net at 73:18.

Both Rivera and freshman forward Kristen Arroyo (San Diego, CA) added late goals for the Bulldogs en route to closing out Carthage.

In addition, senior forward Fionna Connolly (Salem, OR), junior forward Gabi Juliano (Brookfield, CT), junior defender Ellie Harrington (Seattle, WA) and sophomore defender Megan Marks (Boise, ID) all recorded an assist for Redlands.

Junior starting goalkeeper Linzey Smith (Anaheim Hills, CA) picked up the victory with two saves in a first-half shutout. Sophomore Sabrina Grandke-Bawab (Kirkland, WA) made her Redlands debut, securing the net in the final 45 minutes.

 Redlands (1-0-0) faces off against Emory University (GA) in Monday’s non-conference bout at 5 p.m. on Farquhar Field.