With standout Malia Berkely away with the U.S. 15U National soccer team, Badin set out to show it is deep enough to make up for the absence of the second leading scorer in the Greater Girls Cincinnati League.

Mission accomplished.

The Rams outshot Carlisle 20-0 and got goals from six different players in claiming a 7-0 win to claim their eighth straight Division III sectional championship Tuesday night at Monroe High School.

“We showed we have other people who will step up and play when we don’t have Malia,” freshman midfielder Rachel Riley said after being the lone Ram to net more than one goal.

Berkely will return in time for Saturday’s district final and Badin coach Steve Tabar is glad the Rams learned a lesson while she was gone.

“It is a good thing because they understand soccer is a team sport and we had some girls step up,” Tabar said after the Rams improved to 13-2-3. “Our confidence is much higher. Malia is very talented and we would rather be with her than without her.”

It took the Rams less than three minutes to get on the board as Shelby Lamping rolled a shot along the endline that ricocheted off the far post and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. Riley scored the first of her two goals on a cross from Lamping before Madi Kah dribbed through three Carlisle defenders and buried the ball in the top left corner for a 3-0 lead before the game hit the halfway mark of the first half.

“We asked the girls to go out and play hard and we didn’t necessarily do that,” Carlisle coach Jeff Stiver said after his squad finished 12-4-2. “We were consistently on our heals, but when you have a team that shoves the ball down your throat like that, it is instinct to play defense.”

Badin led 5-0 at the break and scored twice on five shots in the second half, the finale coming when Riley beat the Carlisle keeper on a breakaway with 6:01 left in the game.

“We are putting everything together,” Tabar said. “ I think we are coming together at the right time of the season and that is good to see.”

Carlisle claimed itsmost wins and first tourney victory for the senior class.

“You can’t take anything away from them and what they’ve accomplished this year,” said Stivers.