Kayla Deaver (SR/Lee's Summit, Mo.) has produced several outstanding performances during her time at Kansas Wesleyan.
She was named the Kansas Conference's Newcomer of the Year and was a First Team selection last spring after the split 2020-21 season. And she had seven goals in KWU's first nine matches this season.
Wednesday, though, Deaver raised the bar several notches higher. She recorded a haul, scoring four goals, including a first half hat trick, that propelled Wesleyan to a 5-0 KCAC victory over York at Graves Family Sports Complex.
Her first three goals came in the first 32 minutes and staked the Coyotes to a 3-0 lead at the break. The fourth came in the 50th minute as KWU (6-4 overall, 3-1 KCAC) won its third consecutive match.
"I actually felt like we did really good connecting today," said Deaver, a transfer from Kansas City Kansas Community College before last season. "Usually, we have trouble with that last pass leading to the goal but today we did a really good job of just working the ball and working together."
Deaver, who took 12 shots, just missed on several other attempts.
"She did fantastic today and I'm proud of her," KWU coach Henrik Sohn said. "We did a good job putting her in positions to score, she's the one that's executing the last bit of the play. She's been doing a fantastic job getting herself there and then her teammates did a good job playing her the ball at the right moment at the right spot."
Deaver's first goal came in the ninth minute on an assist from Tyler Goodwin (SR/Covina, Calif.). She scored the second unassisted in the 11th minute and the third unassisted in the 32nd minute. Ava Delgado (FR/Redlands, Calif.) scored KWU's fifth goal in the 54th minute, the assist to Lissette Garcia (SR/Bakersfield, Calif.).
Deaver said she's playing with a lot of confidence but it's not a recent development.
"I feel like if you don't have confidence you won't believe in yourself," she said. "If you have confidence you'll believe that you can make the shot. It's not about like 'oh, am I going to miss it, am I going to make it?' If you believe you'll make the shot then you'll make the shot."
As good as Deaver and KWU's attack was she said there's room for improvement.
"This isn't our best, we can definitely improve," she said. "We can definitely make more shots and work as a team together."
Defensively the Coyotes were simply spectacular. York (2-9-1, 0-5-1 KCAC) had just one shot and it came late in the contest; KWU finished with 35 shots.
Neither Wesleyan goalkeeper, Allison Blumenthal (SO/Temecula, Calif.) or Daisy Bingham (SR/Huntington Beach, Calif.), registered a save.
"They did exactly what we asked them to, no silly mistakes," Sohn said of the defense. "They played almost a perfect game. Alison Magni (JR/Santa Maria, Calif.) played great, so did Leoni Enzlmuller (FR/Linz, Austria), Viviana Ramirez (SR/Whittier, Calif.), Diana Lara (SR/Salina, Kan.), Sonja Lopez (SR/Los Angeles, Calif.). They played great today and so proud of them.
"You've got to give some credit to York, they didn't give up. I think that speaks volumes of their character. When you're down 5-0 it's easy to just give up and they didn't give up."
Sohn likes the way his team is playing of late.
"We're moving in the right direction, that's all that matters right now," he said. "We've got tough games coming up at Saint Mary on Saturday and then Wednesday at Avila (in Kansas City, Mo.). We have to be ready."
The Saint Mary game is at 5:30 p.m. in Leavenworth. The Spires (2-5-3, 2-3-1 KCAC) defeated Sterling 1-0 Wednesday in Sterling.