Kingsford senior striker Megan Bittinger (4) blasts a corner kick at the goal late in the second half of Thursday’s matchup against Iron Mountain at Commemorative Field. Bittinger had two goals in the Flivvers’ 8-0 win. (Terry Raiche photo)

KINGSFORD — With the Iron Mountain varsity team missing multiple key players, its trip to Commemorative Field for a matchup with Kingsford on Thursday was always going to be an uphill battle.

Even though the Mountaineers fought until the last minute, they ended up losing to the Flivvers 8-0.

“We are missing a few players,” IM coach Carly Lambert said. “We’ve got a couple of injuries and a couple out of town for something academic. So given the score, I think we played as good as we could with two subs. … We have a lot of work to do, obviously.

One of those players missing from the Mountaineers’ lineup was senior goalkeeper Emily Copley.

“It’s hard when you have girls who’ve never played soccer before, jumping into goal,” Lambert said. “It’s hard to find a keeper on the fly.”

Iron Mountain goalie Ava Martilla (24) makes a diving save against Kingsford on Thursday at Commemorative Field. (Terry Raiche photo)

Kingsford sophomore Ingrid Holt took advantage of the Iron Mountain weakness and led all scorers in the game with four goals.

“She did great, there were a lot of great passes to her,” Kingsford head coach Jenette Gunville said. “She did good.”

While they poured it on offensively, the Flivvers’ improved communication was the key to victory.

“They were talking, communicating much better on the field,” Gunville said. “The passes were great, lots of nice crosses. They played really well as a team.”

That can largely be attributed to the return of senior Mia Counter and junior Abby Prezeslakowski in the Kingsford lineup.

“Mia is a great communicator on the field,” Gunville said. “So it’s awesome to have her back. She does really well talking up front. And then I have Abby (Prezeslakowski), who was hurt and is back also. She does nice on defense.

“(Prezeslakowski) was back for the last game. But they communicate really well.”

Flivvers senior Megan Bittinger kicked off the scoring in the contest when she sent a shot to the wide post and beat IM keeper Ava Marttila 16 minutes into the contest.

Holt pushed the lead to 3-0 as she tallies two goals in a five minute span.

Junior Addison Paternoster sent the Flivvers into the half with a 4-0 advantage as she scored with 40 seconds left in the first.

Seven minutes into the second half, Holt netted her fourth goal of the game.

Bittinger followed that with an impressive shot that crossed the net and banged home off of the post as the Flivvers’ lead improved to 5-0.

After sending a shot off the crossbar, Counter broke through in her return with a breakaway goal.

Holt secured the Kingsford win with a 25-yard shot that found the back of the net and locked up the 8-0 mercy-rule win.

“(We’re) always proud of our girls and Kingsford is always a tough battle,” Lambert said. “We’ll see if we can do better when we have them at home in a couple of weeks.”

The Mountaineers also took their talents to Peshtigo on Friday.

“We’ll probably change up the positions a little bit, see if we can get some fresh legs in different spots and get the energy back up,” Mountaineers coach Bethany Merrill said.

The Flivvers return to action on Tuesday as they welcome Marquette to Commemorative Field at 5 p.m.

“That one will be a little tougher,” Gunville said. “But we’ll do the best we can. We’ll play hard. If they play like they did (Thursday night) and communicate, they’ll do well.”