CARY - Green Hope’s girls soccer team hardly broke a sweat on its way to a 12-0 start. The Falcons, ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN Rise, had outscored the opposition 54-8 going into a rematch with rival Apex, who tested Green Hope in its only close match of the season, a 2-1 victory on March 7.

The rematch wasn’t nearly as dramatic, and the Falcons are cruising again.

Green Hope quickly blew the game wide open, making an emphatic statement with four goals in the first 16 minutes en route to a 7-0 victory Wednesday.

“Pretty much our whole season leads up to the Apex games,” said Green Hope junior Alexis Degler. “It’s always our biggest rivalry. The emotion this time was a lot higher. We knew that they were out to get us. I said before the game, ‘If you can’t get up for the Apex game, you can’t get up for any game.’”

Degler put her team on the board first by drawing a penalty, which she converted to make it 1-0 less than seven minutes into the game.

Alexis Shaffer scored the next two goals for the Falcons, the first on a perfectly executed give-and-go with Maya Worth.

Shaffer’s second goal extended the Green Hope lead to 3-0 on an easy follow shot after a blast from Degler was knocked to the grass by Apex keeper Megan Miller.

Both Degler and Shaffer finished with two goals apiece, with Degler chipping in a pair of assists. Big contributions from longtime teammates Degler and Shaffer have been a staple of the Green Hope offense all season.

“I love playing with Shaffer,” Degler said. “We actually started playing soccer together when we were in U6. We have grown up together playing on the same teams and it’s really fun. It’s gotten to a point where we both know where we are going for college. We won’t always be together so this is one of our last chances to play together and have fun.”

Green Hope notched its last goal of the half when Degler assisted Grace Hamashima on a breakaway.

The Falcons made it 5-0 when Degler took advantage of a rebound in front of the net. Green Hope added its final scores on a pair of beautiful plays by Hamashima. First, Hamashima dribbled free of two defenders for a clean look at the net. The Falcons capped the scoring when she threaded a through ball to Worth, who found herself one-on-one with Miller.

Peterson, in his ninth season at Green Hope, has coached a number of squads to great seasons. But he hasn’t seen any of his teams start a season quite like this year.

“Right now what they have been able to do is certainly the best that I have seen,” said Peterson. “I don’t see any signs of that changing. If you had a bunch of players that weren’t getting along, it could be trying, but they are just a fantastic bunch of kids.”