De La Salle Collegiate's run to the Division 1 state championship soccer game began with a bang Monday night at Sterling Heights High School. 

Thaier Mukhtar and his Pilots (10-6-4), courtesy of a barrage of second-half goals, defeated Warren Woods Tower, 7-0, in a Div. 1 District 15 semifinal matchup. 

After a slow start to the contest that saw the Purple and Gold score only one first-half goal, the Pilots came out with a purpose in the second half, and scored six times. 

Senior Marco Foltz led all scorers with a hat-trick performance, with all three of his goals coming in the final half of play. 

After the game, Mukhtar credited his team's "movement off the ball" for the improvement in play from the first half to the second half. 

"Well, I think we discussed and placed a huge emphasis on movement off the ball. That's something we've been doing the last three days, with three of the best practices that we've had all season long," Mukhtar said. "And, we started the game like we're standing in sand. We just needed to move off the ball a lot better than we did, and we finally did so in the second half, which led to us scoring five goals in the first 15:00 of the half. And, that proved to be the difference." 

Junior Michele Pizzo scored the lone goal of the opening half, on an assist from fellow junior Zach Femminineo. 

It was far from a pretty half of play from the Pilots, highlighted by a lack of execution offensively. 

However, the Purple and Gold made up for it -- and then some -- in the second half, clicking on all cylinders throughout the final half of play. 

Mukhtar's squad proceeded to score six goals in a span of 13:22 -- starting with Foltz's first goal of the match at the 35:53 mark (off an assist from senior Cody Czegus) and ending with Foltz's third and final goal, with 22:31 to play (courtesy of an assist from Pizzo). 

Junior Jacob Dupke, Femminineo and Czegus each also scored a goal in the contest, with assists from junior Dean Oakie, senior Brady Lowe and Foltz, respectively. 

Additionally, Dupke contributed an assist on Foltz's second goal of the match. 

Meanwhile, senior Ryan Golden and junior Jeremiah Johnson combined to record a shutout in net. 

Next up for the Pilots is a matchup with Fraser High School for the Div. 1 District 15 championship. Game is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Sterling Heights HS.