Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

It was a numbers game for the St. Joseph Lady Flyers.
With Kerri Jenkins out due to illness, the Dirty Dozen roster was down to 11 but the Lady Flyers still got a 7-0 win over the Fairland Lady Dragons in the sectional tournament on Tuesday.
Also, the Lady Flyers’ Laiken Unger suffered a kick to the ankle that caused her to miss the final 15 minutes of the game and St. Joseph had to play with 10 players.
Now the biggest numbers of the game belonged to Emma Whaley who recorded five goals. It was the second time that Whaley has recorded a glut this season.
“The girls gave a great effort like always. Emma had a great game and the other girls did a good job looking for her,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Dan Blair.
Emma Whaley scored the first three goals of the game starting at the four-minute mark. Lydia Sheridan had two assists and Aubrey Sutton one to aid Whaley’s efforts.
Bella Whaley got the next goal just one minute after Emma’s third goal and it was 4-0 with 18:00 on the clock.
Unger pushed the lead to 5-0 with 33 minutes on the clock as Sutton and Bella Whaley combined for the assist.
Emma Whaley scored with 44 minutes and 63 minutes on the second half clock. Chloe Sheridan had the assist on the first goal and Unger on the second shot that found the back of the net.
St. Joseph goalie Gracie Damron had 12 saves.
“Our defense played an awesome game. Gracie Damron had an awesome game in goal again. She really had some great saves and has come a long way for a freshman who never played goalie before,” said Blair.
“But congratulations to the Lady Dragons on a great season. Their girls played really hard.”
The Lady Flyers had 18 shots on goal while the Lady Dragons had 14.
St. Joseph travels to top-seeded North Adams for a 5 p.m. game on Thursday in the sectional finals.
Fairland 0 0 = 0
St. Joseph 5 2 = 7
First Half
SJ — Emma Whaley (assist Lydia Sheridan) 4:00
SJ — Emma Whaley (assist Aubrey Sutton) 9:00
SJ — Emma Whaley (assist Lydia Sheridan) 17:00
SJ — Bella Whaley (unassisted) 18:00
SJ — Laiken Unger (assists Aubrey Sutton and Bella Whaley) 33:00
Second Half
SJ — Emma Whaley (assist Chloe Sheridan) 44:00
SJ — Emma Whaley (assist Laiken Unger) 63:00