The battle cry by Lawrence High girls soccer co-coach Matt Makens with three minutes to play Tuesday night against Topeka High was, “Get that ball to Abby!”

It was a good plan.

LHS forward Abby Vestal already had scored three goals, and Makens and the Lions would have loved for her to tally a fourth.

Time, though, ran out on the Lions as they fell to the Trojans, 4-3, but not before the freshman put on a show for the LHS faithful at the Youth Sports Inc. fields.

“Abby always works hard, so this wasn’t her best performance,” Makens said. “But after every game working hard, getting three goals is a great reward for a great player. She was in the zone.”

All three of Vestal’s goals came from close range as she blazed through the Topeka defense.

“It was a team effort,” Vestal said. “You find the open space and go there.”

Vestal had plenty of open space for her first goal. Lawrence (1-7) got on the scoreboard first in the 23rd minute when Vestal was fed a crisp centering pass by sophomore Whitney Lopez from the left corner.

The Trojans (5-3) then scored four unanswered goals, highlighted by Danielle Sicard and her two scores.

LHS senior goalkeeper Shannon Fisher had a notable outing but couldn’t keep all of the flurry of shots she faced out of the net.

Five minutes after Topeka’s Anna Ashcraft found the net to give the Trojans a 4-1 lead, Vestal scored her second in the 67th minute by faking out a Topeka defender and drilling the ball in the top left corner of the net.

Six minutes later, Vestal again drove through traffic and knocked the ball home off the right post to complete the hat trick.

Although Makens would have preferred a win, he said he was glad to see his team pick up its intensity in the second half and fight back from a three-goal deficit.

“It’s encouraging because hopefully it will give us momentum for Thursday’s game,” Makens said.

Vestal agreed with her coach.

“It gives us confidence that we can come back,” she said. “We almost came back. This will help us later.”

Lawrence will play host Thursday to Olathe Northwest.