Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

The heat is on.

That was the approach of the St. Joseph Female Flyers as they blanked the Portsmouth West Lady Senators 7-0 Tuesday in a girls’ soccer game.

“We’ve been working on increasing our defensive pressure on and around the ball. We were pressuring the player with the ball and eliminating the passing options,” said Female Flyers’ coach Kyle Weatherholt.

St. Joseph combined its defensive pressure with strong offense. The Female Flyers took a 2-0 lead at halftime and then went on a scoring surge in the second half.

“We were getting better movement from attacking players and making it difficult for West’s defenders to trackc,” said Weatherholt.

Hannah Miller scored with an assist from Emma Saxby, Ophelia Weatherholt scored on a penalty kick, Sidney Payne scored with an assist by Weatherholt, Saxby scored twice with assists from Kaylee Sheridan and Payne, and Lynsey Booker scored two goals getting assists from Weatherholt and Payne.

“When you scored seven goals, that kind of overshadows your defense,” said coach Weatherholt.

“Ariel Porter has been doing that kind of work all year and deserves a lot of credit. Her tireless running to pressure the ball and mark players allover the midfield is the kind of work that is critical to success but doesn’t always get headlines.”

St. Joseph played Northwest Wednesday.