Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PORTSMOUTH — There’s an old cliché that says it’s not how you start but how you finish.
It’s not cliché as far as the St. Joseph Flyers are concerned.
The Flyers erased an early 2-0 deficit and rallied to beat the Portsmouth Clay Panthers 4-2 in a soccer game on Wednesday.
“We started off the game slow and within 10 minutes gave up two goals,” said Flyers’ coach Mike Balestra. “We battled back to be down 2-1 at the half.  Our defense settled down and shut Clay out the rest of the game.”
The Flyers allowed goals on a penalty kick and a direct kick to start the game before cutting the deficit to 2-1 at the break.
St. Joseph then outscored the Panthers 3-0 in the second half and improved to 4-2-3 on the season.
“Jackson Rowe, T.J. Stone, Chase Walters, Chase Wilds and Chase Willis played very well to shut down Clay’s attack. The defense transitioned the ball well allowing us to be on the attack most of the second half,” said Balestra.
“It was a team effort and we didn’t give up when we were down.”
Jimmy Mahlmeister scored two goals with Isaac Whaley and Zach Roach scoring one goal each. Bryce Balestra, Vincent Keairns, Ethan Sheridan and Mahlmeister all had an assist.
Flyers’ goalkeeper Jared Johnson had eight saves.
Inigo Velilia and Bryce Toomire had Clay’s goals. Goalie Dakota Dodds had 12 saves.
St. Joseph had 25 shots with 12 on goal, four corner kicks, seven fouls and three offside penalties.
Clay had 19 shots with eight on goal, three corner kicks, nine fouls and one offside penalty.
The Flyers host Chesapeake on Thursday.