O”FALLON — After eight years, what’s another week or so?

Alton, fresh off a week-long layoff between games, got back into the swing of things Tuesday evening and ended an eight-year drought against Southwestern Conference rival O’Fallon the process.

The Redbirds (4-0) got a pair of goals from Brianna Hatfield as well as a goal and two assists from sophomore Alaina Nasello and knocked off O’Fallon 4-2.

“I think I might be more excited than the girls,” Alton second-year head coach Jeff Hayes said about Alton’s first victory over O’Fallon since 2009 and their first regular-season Southwestern Conference victory since a 3-2 win at Belleville West on May 15, 2014.

“I’m proud of these girls to get a win in our conference,” Hayes said. “They have been hard to come by.”

The victory came in the Redbirds’ first game since a 3-2 win over Belleville Althoff on March 18 in the championship game of the Metro Cup tournament.

“The long layoff had no effect on us,” Hayes said.

Evidently not.

The Redbirds controlled the flow of play from the outset Tuesday. They grabbed the lead in the ninth minute when Hatfield scored from an assist by Nasello, who was attacking the Panthers right wing.

In the 24th minute, Alton’s Morgan Rauscher made it 2-0 when she was assisted by Nasello.

A 26th-minute penalty kick goal by O’Fallon’s Samantha Stutsman cut the Alton lead in half, making it 2-1 at halftime.

Nasello, scored in the 52nd minute, assisted by Annie Evans to give Alton a 3-1 lead. The play began with a corner kick from Hatfield to the far post. Evans played the ball back across the goal to Nasello, who put it in the back of the net.

“I’m glad (Nasello) made it in the stat column,” Hayes said. “She is putting a lot of pressure on herself to perform in each game. if she comes out, plays hard and has fun, she will help us will a lot of games.”

Last season in her freshman year, Nasello had nine goals and five assists.

A minute later, Stutsman scored again for O’Fallon out of a scramble in front of the Redbirds goal in the 53rd minute, making it 3-2. But Hatfield scored in the 80th minute, assisted by Calista Cox, to ice the victory.

“We put their back line under pressure from the beginning,” Hayes said. “They did a great job of tracking back when we would break through. That kept the game close.

“These girls are already focused on playing Althoff,” he said. “I like their focus right now.”

Alton will play Althoff at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Southwestern Illinois Community College in Belleville.

Highland 1, CM 0 – Audrey Wilke scored the game’s only goal in the 28th minute in Mississippi Valley Conference action in Bethalto. she was asssted by Megan Ramsey.

CM dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the MVC. Highland is 4-3 overall and 1-2 inthe conference.