The Whitehall field hockey team was poised to rebuild this season, but at the same time wanted to get better each and every day with the hope it would translate into wins.

As of press time, the girls sat at 5-5-1 on the season with at least a District 11 playoff berth in their sights.

“Though our record is not as strong as we would like, we have been improving with each game,” said head coach Gabi Smith.

Smith said that throughout the season Olivia Fonzone (junior), Lydia Keppel (junior), Josie Shultz (sophomore), and Aubrey Steiner (senior) have been cohesively working together to help support the lines across the field.

“Each player features their own strengths,” said Smith. “Olivia’s pressure on offense has helped to retain the ball in the opponents’ circles. Lydia’s hustle across the field has helped us in both intense offensive and defensive moments.

“Josie’s composure and smooth fundamental skills with the ball have assisted in keeping the ball outside our circle. Aubrey Steiner’s low block tackles and strong clears have been essential in creating breakaways for our offensive end.”

Kerigan Dreisbach has been the team’s top scorer this season.

“She has great quick skill work that has been valuable in getting the ball past the goalie,” Smith said.

The coach added that Ava Kozak also has been making big breaks for the ball, which also contributes to the team’s offensive pressure.

The good news for the Zephs is the team is relying on some of the younger players, which will only help for the future of the program.

“We heavily rely on our underclassmen to support the team which will give many players experience for next season,” Smith said. “We have some big games coming up at the end of the season, and so the pressure is on as we attempt to make postseason play.

“Our big goals of creating greater fluid movement across the field as well as solidifying fundamentals remain key to what we are looking to develop this season and future seasons.”

Whitehall recently had a big game against Bethlehem Catholic, winning 8-0.

Dreisbach got things started with the first two goals. Molly Mcfetridge assisted on the first one.

Ava Kozak made it 3-0 on as assist from Dreisbach and Mcfetridge made it 4-0 on a pass from Shultz.

Shultz would then make it 5-0 before Ava Kneller scored the sixth goal from Fonzone. Mcfetridge would assist on the next goal from Sarah Mullin which made it 7-0 and Emily Kern scored the last goal from Dreisbach.

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In cross country action, there is less than two weeks until the postseason events begin.

Head coach Brandon has been pleased to this point.

“A lot of our runners are starting to hit their stride and really take steps toward racing stronger and faster,” said Hampton. “We’ve competed at two extremely competitive invitationals, the PIAA Foundation Invite in Hershey and the Paul Short at Lehigh, and the kids ran well on those courses, especially at Hershey in some rainy, muddy conditions.

“We’re really encouraged by the progress both physically and mentally to this point. So many kids are ‘buying in” to the process,’ which is great to see with two young teams and what we’re trying to build here.”

Hampton said both varsity teams ran well at the Paul Short event with competition from District 11, the state of Pennsylvania and New York. It all added up to more personal best times from the boys and girls.

Hampton added that the middle school team competed at the Hurricane Invitational and had four medalists: Larken Good, Zahkar Salamakha, AJ Marakovits, and Zion Damore (JV race).

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The boys soccer team defeated Nazareth 2-0.

The Zephs got a goal in each half to secure the win.

In the first, junior Reed Felker scored on a pass from junior Eddie Saloum.

In the second half, senior Valentin Lezcano scored unassisted.

Whitehall junior keeper Cole Richards saved seven in this victory.