Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

There’s something really offensive about the St. Joseph Flyers’ soccer team this week.
Oh yeah. It’s their offense.
The Flyers improved to 9-2-1 as they beat the Rock Hill Redmen 7-0 on Monday and blanked the Ohio Valley Christian Defenders 12-0 on Tuesday.
Tre Neal continued to be a scoring machine as he racked up four goals against Rock Hill and three more against OVC.
Isaac Whaley had two goals and Peyton Adkins added a goal in the win over the Redmen. Blake Balestra and Whaley had two assists each while T.J. Stone and Isaac Walker each had an assist.
Bradley Rist and Izack Unger shared goalkeeper duties with Rist getting three saves and Unger two.
“It was great team work. We played really well both offensively and defensively,” said Flyers’ coach Mike Balestra.
Logan Reed provided Rock Hill’s top performance as the goalie registered 17 saves. The Flyers had 39 shots on goal with 10 corner kicks.
St. Joseph had two fouls and one offside penalty.
Rock Hill finished with nine shots, three corner kicks and two fouls.
Neal and Adkins scored three goals each while Ethan Sheridan had two goals in the rout of OVC. Zach Roach, Bryson Canter and Clay Willis all added a goal in the win.
Blake Balestra and Adkins registered three assists each with Zac McGraw, Whaley, Rist and Canter getting one apiece.
Rist and Neal shared goalkeeping duties for the shutout. Rist had six saves and Neal one. Defenders’ goalie Michael Gruber had 26 saves.
The Flyers amassed 54 shots and 10 corner kicks. They had three fouls and one offside.
OVC was limited to nine shots and three fouls.
“Our defense did a good job in shutting own OVC and transitioning the ball for our attack. We had possession the majority of the game,” said coach Balestra.
“To quote Father (David) Huffman addressing the team after the game, ‘It is a great day to be a Flyer. Excellent team work.’”
The Flyers play at Rock Hill on Thursday.