ALBANY - Santiam Christian High kept it close before Philomath found another gear.

Tegan Grunwald's five goals helped Philomath pull away for a 6-1 win against the host Eagles in a Special District 4 girls soccer game at Linn-Benton Community College.

Santiam Christian (5-3, 0-2) had closed within 2-1 in the 47th minute on Victoria Henricks' direct kick.

But Philomath (7-2-1, 2-0) answered quickly, scoring twice in the next three minutes and adding two more.

Grunwald, a sophomore, scored the Warriors' first five goals.

"She did what I wanted her to do," PHS coach John Williams said. "It was her job, and that's what they were giving us, too. They were giving us the plays out of the middle."

Sierra Grunwald, Tegan's sister, added the last goal. She also assisted on Tegan's first goal.

Joy deVos had assists on the final two goals.

"Our passing to each other has gotten a lot better the past few games," Tegan Grunwald said.

Williams sent his team into the game to work on passing and shooting for the corners of the net.

But he didn't come away completely satisfied despite the six scores.

"We struggled to connect," Williams said. "We were making their goalkeeper look better than she needed to be. We had too many of them slightly off."

But, he added, "maybe that's also the coach always wants more than he got."

PHS led 2-0 at halftime after keeping the ball on its offensive half of the field for most of the 40 minutes.

The second half was much of the same, and the Warriors turned up the pace after the Eagles closed to within one.

SC keeper Quincey Davis was kept busy throughout.

"She does a great job in goalie, and she's kept us in a couple games," Eagles coach John Henning said.

Henning was pleased with his team's play.

"I think we played very competitive, even toward the end," he said. "We played a good, hard game all the way through."

Henning, in his first year as head coach, is shaping his young program and trying to build team unity and spirit.

"I think we're competitive with any team that's out there," he said. "We have to work on a few details, particularly on defense. On offense, we need to be taking more shots on goal."

Philomath 6, Santiam Christian 1

First half

PHS: Tegan Grunwald (Sierra Grunwald), 20:00

PHS: T. Grunwald (Barry McLaren), 29:00

Second half

SC: Victoria Henricks, 47:00

PHS: T. Grunwald (Joceline Howard), 49:00

PHS: T. Grunwald (Rylee Marshall), 50:00

PHS: T. Grunwald (Joy deVos), 66:00

PHS: S. Grunwald (deVos), 70:00