With the soccer game now heading into overtime at Lehigh County Fields last Friday, both Whitehall and Allentown Central Catholic were hoping for a quick ending to a game where the field was beginning to look more like a duck pond than a soccer pitch.

Both teams were drenched from the steady downpour that began just before halftime. And as the captains met at midfield, they were faced with the prospect of slogging through another 10 minutes.

But early in the overtime, Kylie Saliby’s corner ball found its way to a cluster of players in front of the goal, and a Central Catholic player knocked it into the goal. Saliby wound up with credit for the game-winning goal to give the Zephyrs their third win of the season.

Forward Kate Bonshak said that their alignment on an offensive corner places a player on the keeper, one in the middle of the box, another on the far post, and a final player on the near post. Bonshak was stationed as the near post runner, and was trailed by Vikette Julia Roth who marked her during the play.

“As the ball came in, I tried to judge it to time my jump to attempt to head it,” said Bonshak. “As it was above me, I looked up to find the ball coming off the opposing players head, bouncing back behind her into the goal.”

The undefeated Zephyrs are scheduled to host Emmaus (2-1) this week, and then travel to Freedom before they return home to play Pocono Mountain West on Saturday.

The game was back-and-forth throughout most of the afternoon. Whitehall was able to generate a number of corners, and Cassie Duh consistently drove the ball in front of the net for some good scoring chances. One of those was a header from Erica Juliano that just sailed high.

Bonshak staked the Zephs to a 1-0 lead in the first half, launching a twine tickler for her fifth goal of the season.

Goalkeeper Grace Clary said that the conditions weren’t conducive for crisp play, but they stayed focused and came out with the victory.

“I just think we had to keep our confidence up and our energy had to go up,” said Clary. “That field was awful, the rain was bad, and I just think that we needed to play together and play hard, and that’s what we did.”

Clary turned away a number of shots throughout the game. Probably her biggest test came late in the second half when a player was chasing down a ball that was closing in on Clary. She cold have made the decision to go out and play the ball, but she allowed the defender to mark the player who eventually got off a weak shot that Clary scooped up.

“You kind of have to judge it,” said Clary. “If one of my teammates is there, I don’t want to hurt her, and I stayed back to see if I could block it.”

Whitehall used second half goals by Kylie Saliby and Alyssa Marsteller to beat Emmaus 2-0. Grace Clary made six saves.

The Zephyrs are now 4-0 on the season. They’ll look to continue that winning streak with games against Freedom and Pocono Mountain West this week.