The Marshalltown girls’ soccer team showed off the ability to score from varying depths, relying a lot on the long ball to bury Waterloo West.

The Bobcats scored four goals from at least 29 yards out to handle the Wahawks on Thursday night, winning 6-2 in a non-conference clash at Leonard Cole Field.

Yuri Ramirez had two goals and three assists to lead Marshalltown (5-3-0), which improved to 4-1-0 on its home field with a convincing victory over the winless Wahawks (0-8-0).

“I think we found a way to take advantage of more of our opportunities,” said MHS head coach Stacy Galema. “I’d like to see us keep the ball a little bit more on offense rather than just one-and-done type situations.”

Marshalltown outshot the Wahawks 24-10, sending 14 attempts on goal with six of them getting past a pair of Waterloo West goalkeepers. Starter Viola Kimball had two saves and Joselin Zarco-Cruz made six stops in net.

The Bobcats scored twice in a span of 45 seconds to take a 2-0 lead less than eight minutes into the match. Keira Halsted scored her first varsity goal when she slipped the rebound past Kimball for the icebreaker at the 6:59 mark. Ramirez rifled a shot that Kimball saved, but the carom came right to Halsted’s feet in front of the goal.

McKenna Coleman made it 2-0 just moments later, netting her eighth goal of the campaign on a 33-yard bomb at the 7:44 mark. Ramirez assisted on that score as well.

Ramirez got in on the fun with 22:29 remaining in the first half, taking a pass from Coleman around the defense’s right flank and finding space between Kimball and the near post from 10 yards away.

Jezell Ruiz nearly made it 4-0 before the final horn, but Zarco-Cruz came up with the best save of the match in her first few minutes on the field.

Leading 3-0 against a winless team, Marshalltown may have let off the gas coming out to start the second half. Waterloo West struck first out of halftime as Gabriella Baker beat a pair of Bobcat defenders and put back her own rebound against Lilyia Christen, who took over in net for Sophia Valdez Chavez early after the intermission.

The Wahawks were riding high, climbing to within 3-1 with 25:55 left to play, but the momentum didn’t last. Ramirez rifled another shot into the back of the net, beating Zarco-Cruz with a shot to the top of the goal just 1:25 later. Kenya Gomez-Reyes received an assist on the play, then the two switched places less than two minutes later when Gomez-Reyes rocked a shot from 33 yards out that Zarco-Cruz could only get her fingertips on.

They weren’t necessarily well-developed scoring chances, Galema admitted, but they were strong shot attempts from seasoned veterans.

“I feel like we struggled at the beginning of the second half to get it going,” she said. “We had some more opportunities later in the half, but we can do a much better job. Instead of just doing 1-v-1 at the end of the field and trying to outrun them, we can connect a lot more, possess and beat them more as a team rather than individuals.

“But there were several girls that were more willing to take shots from distance, especially after they subbed their goalkeeper partway through and our players recognized it. It’s our older players that realize what’s going on and see it, but they’re willing to take that opportunity and eventually that’s gonna pay off. We’re gonna need that sometime in a game to get the advantage so it’s good to build their confidence now and know they’ve got this.

“They placed it well. We had them shoot a little bit more before the game into the wind, so it was kinda fortunate we had that opportunity.”

Coleman chalked up her second goal of the game and ninth of the season when she scored on an assist from Itzabella Meraz with 18:08 left to play. Coleman took a long pass on the left flank, dribbled back to her right foot and fired above Zarco-Cruz for the 6-1 lead.

The Wahawks doubled their season goals total with tallies to start and end the second-half scoring, but Galema didn’t feel they were as a result of strategic weaknesses in the Bobcats’ defense.

Allison Iversen redirected a corner kick by Emra Dizdarevic into the goal after the pass into the penalty area sailed over Christen’s head, bringing the score to its eventual final with 10:35 remaining in the match.

“They just kind of happened,” Galema said. “I don’t think there was any glaring mistake on our defense’s part. You never want [their shots] to go in, but I think we were also kinda moving some people around.”

Marshalltown shuffled its pieces on the field as the match went on in an attempt to salvage some energy for Friday’s road match at Humboldt. The Bobcats play at 5 p.m. after the long bus ride and Thursday’s wire-to-wire win over Waterloo West.

“We’re trying to get everyone some rested legs, because the last time we had back-to-back games it was pretty tough,” Galema said. “That also was ADM, so it was a little bit different story, but for the most part we had plenty of positives to take into tomorrow.”

Valdez Chavez finished with four saves for Marshalltown while Christen had one in her reserve role.

The Bobcats beat Humboldt 1-0 last season in Marshalltown.