Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

The St. Joseph Flyers seem to have the defense working. Now they just need to get the offense kicking.

The Flyers blanked Lucasville Valley 5-0 last Tuesday but then lost a pair of tough defensive games, 3-1 to Portsmouth Clay on Thursday and 2-1 to Fairland on Saturday.

Tre Neal punched the nets for two goals to lead the win against Valley. Zac McGraw, Bryson Canter and Peyton Adkins also scored goals for the Flyers (5-2).

Isaac Whaley had two assists in the win while Blake Balestra and Nicholas Ward had one each. Goalkeeper Izack Unger registered five saves.

Trevon Donini had eight saves for Valley.

St. Joseph had 30 shots on goals, 10 corner kicks and two offside penalties. Valley had seven shots on goal, two corner kicks and no penalties.

The Flyers led 1-0 at the half before four different players scored in the first 10 minutes of the second half to decide the outcome.

“It was great teamwork,” said Flyers’ coach Mike Balestra. “Both offensively and defensively we played really well.”

Neal provided the Flyers only offense in the loss to Clay.

Nate Hinze had two goals and Isaiah Chamberlin another for Clay.

Unger posted six saves while Brandon Queen had eight for Clay.

The Flyers had 17 shots on goal and four corner kicks. However, they were guilty of 10 fouls and 11 offside penalties.

Clay had 13 shots on goals, two corner kicks, five fouls and only one offside.

“We possessed the ball and played well as a team from back to front. We just didn’t finish well,” said coach Balestra.

Neal again had the Flyers only goal in the loss to Fairland. Naegele and Baumgard scored Fairland’s goals.

Unger came up with five saves while the Dragons’ Alex Ward had four.

St. Joseph had 13 shots on goals and 12 corner kicks. The Flyers had just two fouls and three offside penalties. Fairland got 14 shots on goal, one corner kick, one penalty and one offside.

“Both teams played well. It was a good game. We didn’t finish again and we didn’t take advantage of the set plays by scoring from our corner kicks,” said coach Balestra.

St. Joseph is at Portsmouth West on Saturday.