WALES – A couple of days ago, Tuesday seemed like a good time as any for Oak Hill to catch defending state champion Waterville.

Then the flu bug struck the Raiders, and timing was their worst enemy.

Waterville struck early, then poured it on in the second half to snap a three-game losing streak with a 5-0 win Tuesday in their KVAC field hockey clash with Oak Hill.

Lexi Russo scored a pair of goals and Jenna Jolicoeur added a goal and two assists as the Purple Panthers (3-3) outshot the Raiders, 22-3.

“We’re connecting very well up and down the field and then we’re getting in the circle and have nothing to show for it,” said Waterville coach Amie Dubois, whose team had dropped games to Mt. View, Belfast and Nokomis after winning its first two. “The last two games have been pretty frustrating, because we play a beautiful game and outshoot the other team and then we have nothing to show for it.”

Russo gave them something to show for it 8:38 into the game off an assist from Mackenzie Riley. Six minutes later, Pellerin converted a cross from Jolicoeur and beat Raider goalie Sara Lacroix inside the far post.

Oak Hill (3-5) was out of synch at both ends, and for good reason. The roster was down to eight full-time varsity players due to illness.

“Half of our team is sick with the flu. I had two girls who weren’t even here because they’d been out of school today with the flu. We had a lot of girls from the JV that don’t play with us a lot,” Oak Hill coach Betsy Gilbert said. “We did the best we could.”

Oak Hill’s best chance came on a two-on-one breakaway about six minutes into the second half. Kayla Clark and Ariel Dalessandris carried past midfield with one defender to beat, but Jen Hale broke them up about 10 yards in front of the circle to spare Jasmine Bishop (three saves) a shot.

Russo broke the game open on Waterville’s next possession by poking home a rebound of a Brittany Locke bid. Jolicoeur and Renee Roberts added markers in the final 10 minutes.

“We finished today, which is really nice because we’ve been struggling with finishing,” said Dubois. “We’re just so anxious in the circle that we’re not really getting our feet around. We’re getting a lot of shots but we’re missing the goal cage or we’re getting in each other’s way. It just became a mental thing.”