CLAYTON — What was supposed to be the final regular season match for the Northmont girls soccer team turned into a hockey game with body checks and a slap upside the head that caused play to be suspended with just about 15 minutes remaining.

The Lady Bolts took an early 3-0 lead against Springfield on consecutive goals by Alina Perkins at 37:07, 36:16 and 34:23 to give the senior midfielder a hat trick.

Scarlett Knaier tacked on a fourth goal at the 9:19 mark to put Northmont up 4-0 at halftime.

A Springfield player went down with an injury nowhere near where the ball was being contested resulting in a five minute timeout. During the timeout visiting fans started jawing at one of the two officials working the game, a 23-year-old who is the youngest official in the Miami Valley.

Originally a standard three man officiating crew was scheduled to work the game, but an ongoing shortage of qualified officials required one to be reassigned to assist with another area game.

Later a second player went down injured following what appeared to be a minor collision. After that, Springfield fans grew increasingly vocal.

Knaier boosted the lead to 5-0 at 34:47 in the second half and Ireland Powell made it 6-0 with 30:51 remaining. Knaier also earned a hat trick with her third goal at the 23:40 mark.

Springfield fans ramped up their cheering whenever the Lady Wildcats made a rare run at Northmont’s goal.

A minor skirmish broke out on a contested ball at the southeast end of the pitch. Players collided and some shoving ensued. A Springfield player slapped a Northmont player on the side of her head and players from both teams collapsed in on the altercation.

Coaches from Springfield and officials had to intervene to restore order and players from both teams were ordered off the field, but the clock continued to run.

Officials met with coaches from both schools and finally declared the contest over with 12:23 remaining.

With the victory Northmont concluded regular season play 4-10-2 overall and 2-5 in Greater Western Ohio Conference play while Springfield dropped to 0-15-0 and 0-7-0.

Northmont opens sectional tournament play at home Monday against Fairborn (6-8-1).

Asked if a lopsided victory against a weak opponent hurts or helps entering tournament play, Northmont coach Kinsey Mangen felt it would benefit her team.

“It is always helpful. It gives us an opportunity to execute the things that we have been working on in practice to bring it to light on the field in order to get ready for tournament. That’s the biggest thing and that is what is coming up next,” Mangen said. “We worked on keeping possession and setting ourselves up to score goals. Hopefully, we can pull out a few wins in the coming weeks.”

All of her players are now healthy and a few from the JV squad will be utilized in sectional play.

“We just now got everybody back to full health so we are at 100 percent and we have some JV players to help us out in the next couple of weeks as well,” she added.

Reach Ron Nunnari by email: [email protected].