It was over a month ago when Washington and Havelock last met. The Lady Pack, short its goalkeeper and a handful of starters, lost what was its second game of the season, 6-0.

Washington, this time with all hands on deck and a traditional slow start behind it, handed its 3-A foe a 3-1 loss. It dominated possession, controlling the game to where the Lady Rams would only break through in the final four minutes.

“Today we won on hustle alone,” coach Ed Rodriguez said. “Our girls decided that we were not going to let them score like they did last time. Good effort. Good leadership by Sydney Edwards, Maddie Brodie and Jordan Prescott. Good effort by everybody on the field.”

The two sides battled evenly throughout the first half. As well as Washington keeper Julissa Perez and Havelock netminder Ethel Colantoni performed, the difference came down to one mistake from the latter. In the 25th minute, a lead pass from the midfield went too far ahead of Washington’s strikers. Colantoni came out of the net to corral it. She didn’t get all of it as she tried to launch it back down the field, and it ended up in the net behind her instead.

Perez came up with a key save in the 33rd minute to preserve Washington’s one-goal advantage heading into halftime.

“I told them that, even though we dominated possession, we just needed to anticipate and come a little harder,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to play defense, back each other up and not give them anything easy. Keep pressing the flanks because we had good luck pressing the flanks. Something will come up eventually.”

The Lady Pack knew that it would need to keep pressuring the Havelock defense. A 1-0 lead likely wouldn’t be enough to hang on to. It did just that when it right out firing on all cylinders. Prescott got a good look at the goal six minutes into the second half, and even though Colantoni wasn’t able to control the rebound, she was able to keep the ball out of the net.

Washington maintained the attacking force, though, and scored three minutes later. Sydney Walker streaked down the right wing and whipped in a cross toward Prescott. Prescott was able to get a foot on it to send it into the far corner of the net, pushing Washington’s lead to 2-0.

Edwards used raw hustle to make it 3-0 in the 63rd minute. She stole the ball in her attacking third and immediately sprinted behind the Havelock defense. Her initial shot was saved, but she beat the Lady Rams’ defenders to the loose ball and put it in the net.

“You can’t teach hustle,” Rodriguez said. “Hustle is something that comes from the heart. (Edwards) has a lot of heart. She always has. That was her personality. She’s a leader of our team, and she showed it.”

Havelock put one in on a corner kick with just a few minutes left.

The win marked Washington’s ninth straight. Next up is a trip to Northeastern on Thursday, then to Rose on April 24.