Zephyr Roundup Boys look to make push, girls clinch
The Whitehall boys soccer team picked up a big win as they try to make a push to the District 11 playoffs.
The Zephs needed overtime, but defeated Central 3-2 on Monday.
The team is just below .500 on their quest to qualify for the playoffs, but there is some good news for the boys.
“We are 4-6-3 and need to win 3 of our last 4 games to qualify for districts,” said head coach Christian Malone. “Three of those games are against opponents with a sub .500 record, and in the last two games we have beat two teams in Pocono Mountain East and Central Catholic.”
The Zephs can’t take anything for granted, but they can clearly see the path in front of them. The team could also be helped by Eddie Saloum, who according to his coach, has caught fire as of late.
“Eddie Saloum has come alive lately with three goals in the last three games,” Malone said. “He provided a lot of spark for us now that he is a little more healthy.”
Against Central, Saloum recently stepped up in a game in which the Zephs were shorthanded and down to 10 men on the field in overtime. He scored on a free kick in what was a must-win.
“This game was a non-negotiable. We had to win and thankfully we did,” Malone said.
All things aren’t rosy however, as the team continues to take its lumps.
“We are battling somewhat of the injury bug this year, but the boys just keep on fighting,” Malone said.
The Zephs face Pocono West Thursday night in another must-win, and then Stroudsburg Saturday afternoon.
Ramez Farrag and Reed Felker also scored for Whitehall in the win over Central.
Felker leads the team in scoring with six goals and three assists. Juan Estaban has five goals and two assists. Saloum has four goals on the season.
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Meanwhile, the Whitehall girls have wrapped up a District 11 playoff berth with a 9-6 mark on the season so far. They are currently sixth in the 4A Division behind Emmaus, Nazareth, Parkland, Northampton and Easton.
The girls are riding their hot start to the season when they went 7-2. However, they’ve fallen on some hard times lately, and have dropped four of their last six games, including Tuesday’s loss to Central 4-0.
The girls have three games left to gain some momentum: Pocono Mountain West on Oct. 3, Dieruff on Oct. 7 and Northampton on Oct. 9. Pocono West is 0-14 on the season while Dieruff is just 1-14 so far. The K-Kids are 11-2-1 this season.
Field Hockey
Whitehall fell to Easton 2-0 in a recent game. Jillian Relvas and Ari Delisio scored for the Rovers.
The Zephyr girls won 4-1 over Hazleton.
WHS scored the first four goals of the game. Olivia Fonzone, unassisted, scored first followed by two goals from Kerigan Driesbach to make it 3-0. Matisyn Derkacs assisted on Driesbach’s first goal.
Driesbach would score again for the hat trick in the third quarter, unassisted, to make it 4-0.
Faith Russo scored unassisted for Hazleton.
Whitehall sits at 8-6 on the season but has not yet clinched a district berth. They are currently seventh in the 3A division behind Nazareth, Eammaus, Easton, Parkland, Stroudsburg and Northampton. They will take on Bethlehem Catholic, Moravian Academy and Northampton to close out their season. Becahi is just 1-14 this season while Moravian is 1-11. Northampton is 9-5 and has wrapped up a berth.