The Spanish Springs girls soccer team is hoping it has eluded the midseason-skid that plagued it before its last two outings. The Cougars opened the season as one of the favorites to compete for a High Desert League crown, but those hopes took a hit recently with three straight losses.

The Cougars would like to believe those woes are behind them after capturing a 7-0 home win in a conference clash against Hug Tuesday night. The Cougars also picked up a 2-1 league win on the road in their previous outing last Saturday.

“I don’t know what was going on before or what was really happening, but I hope we’ve righted the ship,” Spanish Springs coach Mike Faker said. “We’ve definitely been better the last couple times out ... It was a pretty good day. We’d been working on some things, possession, defense and changing formations. It all seemed to work today.”

On Tuesday, Spanish Springs got four goals from junior Shaylor Francom to outclass the visitors from Hug.

The Cougars broke the scoreless tie 20 minutes into the match. Senior Carly Pengelly got that honor with a goal on an assist from her sophomore sister Lindsey.

Francom got into the scoring act shortly thereafter. She scored in the 23rd minute thanks to an assist from Angela Dyette. In the 35th minute, Francom got an assist from Lindsey Pengelly and the two teams went into halftime with the Cougars clinging to a 3-0 advantage.

The Spanish Springs offense was far from finished. The Cougars tacked on four more goals in the second half. Kindra Carr scored in the 53rd minute. Francom followed with scores at the 70- and 77-minute marks.

Dyette capped the scoring parade with a goal in the 77th minute. All four second-half Cougar scores were unassisted.

Spanish Springs (6-3-1, 5-3 HDL) got off 23 shots in the lopsided win. It was a relatively easy day for Cougars goalkeeper Erica Lorenz, who needed just two saves in the shutout.

Reed 3, Elko 0

•At Elko, Reed got two goals from senior all-league candidate Kayla Gomer and the Raiders’ defense did the rest, holding the Elko offense in check en route to a shutout.

Six minutes into the match, Gomer scored on an assist from Jessie Eiting. Gomer added another goal in the 20th minute after getting an assist from Alissa Marshall.

Marshall tacked on an insurance goal for Reed when she scored on a penalty kick at the 28-minute mark.

Goalkeeper Carrington Grimes racked up 10 saves to help the Raiders’ cause.

Reed improved to 6-2-2 overall and 6-1-1 in HDL play.