Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PORTSMOUTH — The South Point Pointers decided it would be best to have short memories.
After losing a tough Ohio Valley Conference soccer game at Gallipolis last Thursday, the Pointers came back on Monday to beat the Portsmouth Trojans 5-1 in a league game at Shawnee State University.
“Tonight, was a good bounce-back game for us,” said Pointers’ coach Zach Jenkins.
“Our early season schedule has been rigorous to say the least, so it was good to be able to get all of our guys some valuable playing time as well as rest some of our guys who have already logged a lot of minutes this season.”
The game was scoreless until the 20-minute mark when Levi Lawson got an assist from Isaiah Nease and scored to put the Pointers up 1-0.
Tyler Lilly took care of the next two goals over a short six-minute span as he got an assist from Jaylon Halfhill and another from Logan Southall.
“We struggled again with it early on, but finally clicked after 2o minutes or so,” said Jenkins.
South Point scored two quick goals in the second half as Zane Walters got an unassisted goal at the 45-minute mark and Mathew Allen had a goal four minutes later on a penalty kick.
It the first career goals for Walters and Allen
“Give Portsmouth credit where it is due. They have improved and I felt overall, they worked harder than we did. We came in lazy and with low intensity and they made it a dogfight for quite a while,” said Jenkins.
Goalkeepers Liam McLean had five saves and Xander Dornon two for the Pointers (2-3-1, 1-1-1 OVC).
South Point had 13 corner kicks to just one for Portsmouth.
The Pointers will host Rock Hill Thursday on senior night.
South Point 3 2 = 5
Portsmouth 0 1 = 1
First Half
SP – Levi Lawson (assist Isaiah Nease) 20:00
SP – Tyler Lilly (assist Jaylon Halfhill) 25:00
SP – Tyler Lilly (assist Logan Southall) 31:00
Second Half
SP – Zane Walters (unassisted) 45:00
SP – Mathew Allen (penalty kick) 49:00
Prt – Zach Roth (unassisted) 56:00
Saves – SP: Xander Dornon 2, Liam McLean 5: PHS: 21.
Corner kicks – SP: 13; PHS: 1