Friday’s pop-up shower - make that pop-up downpour - made for some sloppy conditions even on turf, preventing the Whitehall girls soccer team from controlling the action against Nazareth as the ball just died on the drenched surface, leading to a game that ended scoreless after two overtime sessions.

By the time the field began to recover late in the second half, Whitehall began to put on the pressure, but Blue Eagle keeper Caitlyn Lazzarini kept the ball from getting behind her, making four saves in OT.

With the nil-nil tie, the Zephyrs are now 3-2-1 on the season.

The Zephs consistently had the ball in Nazareth’s end in the extra sessions. In the second overtime, Kate Bonshak took a through pass and raced down the field, slipping a nifty pass to Sofia Pittas whose tough angle shot was scooped up by Lazzarini.

She also generated some scoring chances for herself, but each time she got the ball on goal, Lazzarini was equal to the task.

Bonshak said that she did everything she could to provide a spark in the overtime periods, and that included getting the ball up as much as possible.

“I tried to receive the ball, but every time I turned I had a bunch of pressure on me, but I did everything I could to get around, and I tried to get us up,” said Bonshak.

She said that their midfield did a good job in tilting the field toward the Nazareth goal and that helped them dominate the action in overtime.

“I felt we moved it really well as a team, but we didn’t finish,” she said.

Bonshak said that conditions were rough in the first half, with passes coming to a dead stop just after they were struck.

“It felt like we were playing in a river,” said Bonshak. “It was hard to play through, it was hard to see, just really tough.”

She said that was no excuse since both teams had to deal with it, but while they dealt with it well, they just needed to be a little smarter with their passes.

The sophomore currently has four goals on the season.

One of those goals came against Allentown central Catholic last week. They defeated the Vikettes in overtime, 2-1. Bonshak helped set up their first goal when she passed to forward Hope Millets who dribbled a bit before striking the team’s first goal on a breakaway. She followed that the winning goal barely a minute into overtime after Saliby played the ball to her feet, with her first touch ending up in the back of the net. She also scored both goals in their 2-0 win over Stroudsburg.

In the game against Nazareth, head coach Chris Bleam said that as the game wore on, his squad began to control the action after making the proper mental adjustments.

“We played really well for the last 60 minutes of the game,” said Bleam. “We were put under significant pressure by Nazareth’s effort in the first 40 minutes, and we really didn’t adapt to it very well, and I think that at halftime, it wasn’t anything magical, but just a little attitude adjustment on the girls’ part, and I was really proud of how we played the last 60 minutes.”

Bleam said the weather impacted their ability to control the ball, effectively neutralizing those players who are good with the ball on their feet. That allowed Nazareth to step in and intercept passes and put them under a lot of pressure.

“In the second half, not only did we increase our effort a little bit and kept the ball a little bit more, but the field dried off and actually traveled more,” said Bleam.

Bleam was also pleased with how they played against undefeated Parkland, allowing just four goals to a team that’s scored 39 goals in their seven wins this season. They also scored a pair, as their two-goal differential is the closest anyone has come all season against the Lady Trojans.