Suffolk News-Herald

The Nansemond-Suffolk Academy trio of Ellis Pretlow, Parris Greider, and Courtney White combined for seven first half goals as the Lady Saints scuttled visiting Maury 12-4 at NSA Wednesday afternoon.

Outshooting the Lady Commodores 21-3 in the opening half, NSA had a huge 9-0 lead at the break while improving their record to 2-1.

After the visitors controlled possession for most of the first four minutes, Greider got the Lady Saints rolling 4:23 into the match.

Courtney passed to Greider on the left wing. Greider cut inside past a defender, jumped and shot in one motion, putting the ball low past the keeper.

Courtney scored the first of her three goals at the 15:58 mark. With possession behind the cage, she ran unchecked around the right side of the goal and out to about six yards in front before placing a low shot that doubled NSA’s lead.

Pretlow got into the act a couple minutes later, scoring twice in 15 seconds and giving the Lady Saints comfortable control of the match at 4-0 with 12:49 to go in the first half.

Pretlow broke a nine-minute scoreless stretch and completed her hat trick.

After a long possession, she took the ball from behind the goal, and, going around the left side of the crease, she split two defenders and then found an angle on the left side of the goal, putting a hard shot inside the far post with 3:24 left.

&uot;We have improved with our transition out of midfield,&uot; said Greider, &uot;and our midfielders and defenders were really strong today.&uot;

Margie Coxe, Courtney, and Ginny Stulb each added goals in the closing 1:14 of the half for the 9-0 score.

After Maury erased the shutout 2:36 into the new half, Courtney responded 30 seconds later with an unassisted goal. Later in the half, Stulb tallied her second goal and Pretlow finished the NSA scoring for the afternoon, notching her game-high fourth.

&uot;I think we played really well,&uot; said Pretlow. &uot;We passed the ball really well and our offensive plays worked exactly the way we planned.&uot;

Keeper Olivia White recorded six saves and Courtney (2), Pretlow, Greider, Stulb, Anna Cotton, and Emily Lawson got assists.

The Lady Saints played a non-conference match versus Norfolk Collegiate Thursday, but the result was not available at press time. They’ll go to Catholic Tuesday.