Fairfield drops baker's dozen on York Catholic

Fairfield reached the halfway mark of its YAIAA Division III slate undefeated with a 13-0 victory over York Catholic in girls' soccer action Thursday night at Robert E. Finefrock Field in Fairfield.

That completed a big week in division play for the Knights as the Irish entered the week with one division loss and the squad that Fairfield defeated on Tuesday, Delone Catholic, was unbeaten prior to the Knights' 7-0 win.

"As a coach, I'm never satisfied. I always want something to teach the girls to help them improve," Fairfield head coach Phomma Phanhthy said. "But I'm very pleased with how we're playing."

York Catholic (5-4, 4-2) packed its defense in early in the match and kept the Knights off the board for the first 19 minutes before freshman Annabel Anderson scored off an assist from Hannah Logue at the 21:05 mark of the opening half.

Anderson, who was returning after missing the previous four matches, netted her side's second goal of the match with 16:56 to go in the first half and then set up Nora Clarke for a goal with 11:09 to play.

For the match, Anderson played a little over 45 minutes in her return.

"I played Annabel more than I wanted to. I was aiming for about 30 minutes," Phanhthy said. "But she looked good out there and I wanted to see how she'd hold up."

Logue assisted on goals from Clarke and Sarah Heinbaugh in the final nine minutes of the half to boost the hosts' advantage to 5-0 at the break.

"We gameplanned to pack the middle and it worked for awhile," York Catholic head coach Joe Nattans said. "But then we got away from that and Fairfield was able to exploit it. We knew they were very good and we hung with them for a little while. But it seemed like once we fell behind 2-0 that we panicked."

Clarke and Heinbaugh each tallied two more goals in the second half and Logue scored to give her a second consecutive one-goal, five-assist match.

"Hannah is more dangerous now than she used to be," Phanhthy said. "She passes with more confidence because she trusts that her teammates will finish her crosses. She still draws a lot of attention, but instead of just looking to score, she's looking to make the smart play."

Clarke's four-goal effort was her second straight match reaching four goals and Heinbaugh netted a hat trick with a pair of helpers. The Knights also received goals from Rio Strosnider, Callie Fennimore and Maya Callenbach.