BAY ST. LOUIS — Our Lady Academy’s varsity girls soccer team began defense of its MHSAA Class 1A/2A/3A state championship with a decisive 8-0 win over the Cathedral Lady Green Wave in a South State first-round game Monday night.

“It was a game full of spirited play. OLA is the defending state champs and they played a good game against us,” Cathedral head coach David Gaudé said. “We enjoyed playing against them.”

Cathedral entered the playoffs as the runner-up in Division 7 with a 4-2 mark in its division, but ran into a buzzsaw in the Division 8 champion Lady Crescents. The final score could have been even more lopsided had it not been for the play of Lady Green Wave goalkeeper Melina Hamezopoulos, who had 15 saves in the game.

Our Lady Academy will take on the winner of the McLaurin/Sacred Heart game on Saturday.