The weather played tricks on the players during Tuesday night’s Class 1A Region 3 quarterfinal soccer match at Comet Field, but throughout the nearly three-hour marathon that featured two stoppages totaling approximately 90 minutes because of storms, 10th-ranked North Polk was on its game.

And there was nothing Webster City could do about it.

With a bevy of offensive weapons and speed for days, North Polk (12-5) scored in bunches and never relented in a 10-0 victory that sent it to Friday’s semifinal round against either Humboldt or Iowa Falls-Alden.

WCHS (4-9), meanwhile, simply had no answer. Out-manned in the middle of the field and thin defensively with just 15 players in uniform, all the Lynx could do was watch as the Comets reeled off shot after shot.

Webster City freshman Katie Piaszynski (5) thwarts the run of North Polk’s Katie Berglund near the goal during the first half on Tuesday in Alleman. Tenth-ranked North Polk disposed of Webster City, 10-0, in a Class 1A Region 3 quarterfinal match. The Lynx ended the season with a 4-9 record. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“They were just better than us,” WCHS senior forward Sarah Vogelbacher said after her career came to a conclusion in the rain. “Their passing is really good. Between them, it’s just at a higher level than us and it made us fall apart.”

The match ended with 20:47 remaining on the clock in the second half on a Katie Berglund goal from in front of the net. She streaked into the zone and took a perfect cross from Brooke Johnson to put the Lynx away.

North Polk rattled off 36 shots, 17 of them on frame. WCHS managed just two shots, only one of which was on goal.

The Lynx got their first look at the net in the 44th minute. Kaitlyn Wagner, another of the four seniors on the roster, put the team’s only shot on target in the 50th minute on a blast from near midfield. But Comets’ goalkeeper Sydney Anderson had no trouble corralling it.

Danielle Bonewitz scored four goals, three of them in succession in a span of nine minutes, to lead the Comets. Katryn Halterman rifled in three goals — she had the first and second scores of the bout — while Maddie Bruggeman and Janie Walter joined Berglund with one goal.

Webster City goalkeeper Josselin Guendulay (00) races in to block the shot of North Polk’s Janie Walter during the second half Tuesday night in Alleman. Guendulay came up with seven saves in the match. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Berglund also had a pair of assists on Halterman’s initial two goals.

It was 2-0 North Polk when the first delay came with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. The match resumed 45 minutes later and the Comets caught WCHS napping. They poured in four goals during that stretch to take a commanding 6-0 advantage into the intermission.

“I thought we played very well in the beginning and held them to those two goals,” Vogelbacher said. “But those four goals, we weren’t ready. We just needed to be more prepared.”

It didn’t help that the wind shifted directions during the delay. Going into a strong wind during the opening 30 minutes, the Comets had the wind at their backs for those final 10 minutes.

Bonewitz scored again less than a minute into the second half to make it 7-0 as the rain pelted down, and another 45-minute delay was called just moments later.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

With the rain and wind out of the area following the break, North Polk needed just 19 more minutes to tack on the final three goals.

Bonewitz’s fourth goal on a low blast from just outside the box made it 8-0. Halterman put the Comets on the brink of advancing and collected her hat trick in the 54th minute.

North Polk 10, Webster City 0

Class 1A Region 3 Quarterfinal

Tuesday at Alleman

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Webster City 0 0 — 0

North Polk 6 4 — 10

Goals — NP: Katryn Halterman (Katie Bergland assist), 15th minute; Halterman (Berglund assist), 18th minute; Danielle Bonewitz (Abi Zimmer assist), 32nd minute; Maddie Bruggeman (unassisted), 36th minute; Janie Walter (Bonewitz assist), 37th minute; Bonewitz (unassisted), 39th minute; Bonewitz (unassisted), 41st minute; Bonewitz (Halterman assist), 48th minute; Halterman (unassisted), 54th minute; Berglund (Brooke Johnson assist), 60th minute. Shots — WC 2, NP 36. Shots on goal — WC 1, NP 17. Saves — WC 7 (Josselin Guendulay), NP 1 (Sydney Anderson). Corner kicks — WC 2, NP 3.