Patience, persistence, and simply getting a lot more shots than the other team paid off in the end of a 6-0 Nansemond River (NR) victory Wednesday afternoon over visiting Deep Creek.

The win, the Lady Warriors’ first of the young season, never seemed to be in doubt, as NR set the tone of the match quickly, gaining three corners in the game’s first two minutes, and constantly threatening the Lady Hornet net with shots.

But the visitors frustratingly kept the Lady Warriors from finding the back of the net.

It took more than 20 minutes of play until finally, on the 14th shot of the game for River, for everything to change, and it changed very quickly.

Ashley Aston got the Lady Warriors on the board and two more goals followed, all within a span of less than three minutes.

Heather Proffit assisted on Aston’s goal, sending in a low cross nearly from the endline on the right side of the Lady Hornet cage. Aston redirected the cross and it was in the back of the goal before the defense or the opposing keeper could react.

On the next foray down the field, the tables were turned as Aston set up Proffit.

Aston passed ahead out of midfield to Proffit, who wound up on the right wing, a couple yards outside the circle, and drove it cleanly home from there.

The finale of the decisive rally came as Tina Valdivieso sent a long drive into the Deep Creek circle. The ball found Katelyn Yandle on the right side of the goal and Yandle quickly sent a pass across the face of the goal, finding Jessica Watahovich, who swept the ball into the net.

The second half, while there was no wild barrage of goals, was more of the same, as the Lady Warriors controlled most of the possession and practically all of the scoring opportunities.

Yandle scored her side’s fourth and fifth goals, with Aston getting her second assist as a part of Yandle’s first tally; and with about four minutes left, Watahovich got her second goal of the match.

&uot;It was big (to get the first goal), and we stepped it up after that,&uot; said Aston.

&uot;We have to keep working and coming together as a team to get where we want to go, and that’s for our big goal this year, which is to beat Lakeland.&uot;

River (1-1) outshot Deep Creek 39 to 3 and earned 20 corners to zero for the visitors.

The Lady Warriors play at 7 p.m. this evening at Tabb.

Next week, River goes to King’s Fork on Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m. start before hosting the Suffolk Varsity Invitational on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

andrew.giermak@suffolknewsherald.com