Apr. 20—JAMESTOWN — The Blue Jays’ first game back at Rotary Field in nearly three years ended up as perfect as possible.
The squad completed the sweep of St. Mary’s Saturday afternoon defeating the Saints 5-0 to improve to 4-0 in the Western Dakota Association standings. The Jays topped St. Mary’s 2-0 back on April 11.
“I give St. Mary’s a lot of credit,” JHS head coach Colton Altringer said. “They are a very hardworking and determined team. They pressed us pretty hard both last week and this week but today, the girls had the realization that when they do the little things right consistently, they can play with anyone in the state.”
Altringer and his squad have a three-game week ahead of them. The team will travel to Minot on Tuesday then will be back at Rotary Field on Thursday and Saturday hosting Dickinson and Williston.
While it took the entire Blue Jay squad to win, it was the underclassmen who got the Jays on the scoreboard.
In the seventh minute freshman Briella Martin got loose and powered one past St. Mary’s goalkeeper Joclyn Barone to put her team up 1-0.
Martin notched another unassisted score in the 18th minute. The freshman is currently leading the Jays in total scoring with four goals through her four games played.
St. Mary’s managed to limit any more chances for Martin in the first, but that left Layla Becker unattended.
Becker, an eighth grader picked up her second goal and assist of the season before the half was out. Becker’s assist was to sophomore Haley Attleson.
The Jays outshot St. Mary’s 5-0 in the first half.
“That’s the story of our team,” Altringer said. “You hear our starting lineup and it’s one junior, a couple of seniors and the rest are sophomores or freshmen. Clearly, this group is working and gelling together very well. They are figuring it out and it’s fun to watch that.”
In the second, the Blue Jays upperclassmen got their shots in.
In the 62nd minute, Reese Christ dribbled downfield and laid one in to extend the Jays’ lead to five.
Since the Jays were playing with the lead all game, Altringer said the team let up in intensity throughout the second half. While the head coach would like to see that rectified to ready the Jays for teams like Minot, he said he expects the team to find the extra gear as they get more experience playing varsity soccer.
“It’s really important to me that these girls keep growing. We need to work on the little tangibles now so that as they get older, they can just keep getting better, better and better.”
Jamestown 5, St. Mary’s 0
SM 0 0 — 0
JHS 4 1 — 5
Scoring
First half
1. JHS, Briella Martin (unassisted) 7th minute; 2. JHS, Briella Martin (unassisted) 18th minute; 3. JHS, Layla Becker (unassisted), 35th minute; 4. JHS, Haley Attleson (Becker) 38th minute.
Second half
5. JHS, Reese Christ (unassisted) 62nd minute.
Shots on goal: St. Mary’s 0; Jamestown 7
Goalkeeper saves: SM, Joclyn Barone 2; JHS, Olivia Sorlie 2
