CHRIS KELLY Long Branch’s Fran Scalpati steals the ball away from Lakewood’s Jill Loeffler during a game Monday in Long Branch.

When you have the will to win, more often than not, it becomes a matter of time, before the wins start piling up. And that is exactly what the Long Branch girls field hockey team is counting on.

After six games, the Green Wave finally recorded their first victory of the season, defeating Lakewood, 6-0.

"Its nice to finally put one in the win column," said head coach Allison Mana. "The girls have a lot of heart. "

The Lady Wave’s desire to record their first win of the season was evident, as the Branchers controlled both sides of the ball.

Long Branch dominated the time of possession, spending most of their time either in transition in the midfield, or on the attack.

The few times the Piners crossed into Long Branch’s territory, the Wave’s defense quickly regained control.

Lakewood only entered Long Branch’s circle seven times, while the Green-and-White had 44 scoring opportunities.

Long Branch scored the actual winning goal 16 minutes into the game, when Carmella Perego scored on a pass from Lori Blaine during a penalty corner. Perego would score two more goals to lead the Wave with a hat trick.

Her second goal came late in the first half on a pass from Fran Scalpati, and her third was unassisted in the second half.

The Branchers other goals came from Blaine (two goals, both unassisted) and Carolina Espinosa. Earning the assist on Espinosa’s goal was Scalpati.

Long Branch out-shot their guests 31-3, with Melissa Eilers making two saves. Lakewood’s Melissa Heim stopped 25 Long Branch shots.

The girls return to action tomorrow when they travel to Raritan to face a solid Rockets team. From there they will host rival Red bank Catholic on Tuesday before traveling to Ocean for an important Class B North division battle.