MONMOUTH — Four different players found the back of the cage as the third-seeded Monmouth Academy girls soccer team defeated sixth-seeded Richmond 4-1 in the Class D South quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Annabelle Carlton, Tarynn Keleher, Riley Smith and Lauren Burnham scored for the Mustangs (7-8), who led 2-1 in the second half before Smith and Burnham scored to put the game away. Lily Carlton made six saves in goal.

The victory snaps a four-game losing streak for Monmouth.

“We needed this one because we’ve had a really hard time scoring, and we had a number of shots today and the girls followed up on them,” Mustangs coach Gary Trafton said.

Monmouth will face second-seeded St. Dominic Academy (8-4-2) in Friday’s semifinals.  The Saints won the team’s lone regular-season matchup, 1-0, on Oct. 19.

“St. Dom’s, pretty big game,” Annabelle Carlton said. “We held them the entire game last time and just got kind of a crappy call, and then things went downhill from there, but I think that we know their strengths, we know their weaknesses. We can kind of figure that out.”

The Mustangs had most of the possession early in the first half Tuesday. Their first scoring chance hit the crossbar.

Midway through the half, Annabelle Carlton earned a penalty kick after she drew a foul in the 18-yard box. Her line-drive boot gave Monmouth a 1-0 lead.

“I was nervous, but, like, we do it every single day in practice, so I know it was just, I just needed to get it done,” Carlton said.

Trafton called the goal “the monkey off our back” because if the Mustangs don’t score early, he said, they tend to keep their opponents in the game.

Richmond goalie Autumn Lane dives to save the ball as Monmouth’s Riley Smith charges toward the goal during Tuesday’s game in Monmouth. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Annabelle Carlton left the game shortly after and didn’t return because of a left hip injury.

“She’s been dealing with a few injuries, and we just figured we (were) up in the game, might as well keep her out unless we needed her because we’re going to St. Dom’s and that’s going to be a battle over there,” Trafton said.

Richmond (4-10-1) started to flip the field after the goal and had a direct kick shortly after, but Lily Carlton made the stop.

Monmouth had a few opportunities late in the first half to extend the lead but couldn’t get the ball past Richmond goalie Autumn Lane (11 saves).

Keleher’s low shot in the box early in the second half gave the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.

“Oh, yeah, that started the chain, started the chain right there of scoring,” Keleher said. “Once that hit, that was it, we kept going.”

Less than 10 minutes later, Keleher had a similar chance, but Lane dove to make the save.

The Bobcats got back into the game when a penalty kick was awarded to Eden Balduf nearly 15 minutes into the second half, and she fired the ball past the diving Lily Carlton to cut Monmouth’s lead to 2-1.

Lane kept Richmond in the game when she challenged Monmouth’s Peyton McDonald and scooped up the ball for the save midway through the second half.

Riley Smith added an insurance goal when her strike in the 31st minute put Monmouth ahead 3-1. It was her second scoring chance in a matter of minutes — Lane made a save on the earlier opportunity.

Burnham added a late goal for the Mustangs to complete the scoring.

“Lauren Burnham, she hadn’t played much, so that was great, too, and Riley had a nice shot,” Trafton said.