Saturday was filled with firsts for the Seymour’s girls soccer team.

However, by the final horn, one stood out above the rest in the Owls’ season-opener: its first-ever win against Providence.

The Owls outlasted the Class A No. 6 Pioneers on a hot, sunny afternoon by posting a 2-1 victory at the high school’s soccer complex.

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Playing in her first game in two years — after sitting out all of 2016 due to transfer rules — Maddie Roark scored a pair of goals for the Owls to help propel the win.

In the first half, the Owls aggressively pursued the ball to control possession time.

Roark struck first at the 33:08-mark.

Following a stop, the Owls’ Aidan Hiester punted the ball and it bounced over a Providence defender. Roark took the ball on a breakaway and placed it past the Pioneers’ keeper from near 12-yards out for the lead.

The Pioneers had their best opportunity at scoring with 1:48 on the clock. On a one-vs-one breakaway, defender Elizabeth Lenart thwarted the Pioneers’ attack just outside the box to keep the Seymour lead.

At half, the Owls had outshot the Pioneers 8-1.

“Really, in the first half, I thought we controlled the half,” Owls coach Greg Musser said. “They only had one shot. We controlled through the middle and knocked the ball wide. It was nice to see what we’ve been working on out there against a good team. We jumped on them early and settled-in.”

Seymour High School had a pair of chances early in the second half, but couldn’t capitalize as a pair of shots went over — and hit — the crossbar.

The Pioneers’ Olivia Dome got her team on the board by blasting a shot from almost 30 yards just over Hiester’s hands, which knotted the game at 1-1 with 8:30 remaining.

That tie didn’t last long.

The Owls’ Bailey Lewis rifled a shot into traffic near the top of the box — with the keeper and a defender charging — and the ball squirted out to the left side of the box.

Roark flew down the wing and slotted the ball with her left foot from the end-line into the back of the empty net with 6:55 left.

“It was a great ball in to Bailey,” Musser said. “She did everything we were telling her to do, going hard to it. There was a collision and the ball squirted free to Maddie. She had a great, falling-away from the goal, bad angle goal.”

The teams battled back-and-forth in the midfield as time expired.

In goal, Hiester totaled four saves.

The Owls outshot the Pioneers 12-5 in the contest.

Musser said that Roark will play a big role in the Owls’ offense this fall.

“Its no easy thing doing what she had to do,” Musser said. “We’ve been telling her that she doesn’t have to be the one (to always score). You could see it today with the passing. It was nice to see her settle-in and realize her teammates are right there with her.”

It was her teammates who created her goals, and I think it might be something different than what she’s used to. They’re getting good chemistry. It was nice to see her out there today in the purple and white.”

Musser said that the team is starting the season on the right foot.

“That was a weight off our shoulders,” Musser said. “That’s a game we have on our schedule every year that we’re always excited for — it has pretty much been the first game of the year every year since we added them. It’s a tough way to start the season against a team of that caliber. You could hear the girls laughing, cheering and screaming when we won the game.”

The Owls (1-0) will host Scottsburg on Thursday in a varsity-only match.