Sara Sletto scores fourth corner kick goal, Jays beat Mandan

May 11—JAMESTOWN — Colton Altringer was at a loss for words on Saturday.

With 58 minutes gone in the Blue Jay soccer team's tilt against Mandan, the JHS head coach watched as senior Sara Sletto let fly a corner kick that curved and settled into the left side of the net to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead over the Braves.

"Honestly, nothing is ever going through my head," Sletto said. "It's either going in or it's going not anywhere near where it should. I just wanted it to be anywhere in the box."

As Sletto jogged back to her position at center back, Altringer was standing on the sidelines a bit slack jawed.

"How — ?" Altringer said of what was going through his head when Sletto scored. "I mean, just the angle it was at — it was impressive.

Sletto's fourth corner kick goal of the year clinched the Blue Jays' ninth win of the season and moved her team into second place in the WDA standings at 9-1-2. The Jays previously tied Mandan 0-0 on May 2.

"I think the first match (against Mandan) was very evenly played," JHS goalkeeper Olivia Sorlie said. "We competed really hard. We knew that this one was going to be a hard game too but we got it done."

The Jays' next game is slated for Tuesday at Dickinson beginning at 6:15 p.m. The team's final home game of the season is slated for Friday against top-seeded Minot. Jamestown is set to play its final two games of the regular season on May 21 and May 24.

After a disheartening 0-0 tie with Bismarck Legacy on Tuesday, Saturday was a much needed win for the Blue Jays. Sletto's goal was the Jays' first in 138 minutes of play.

"I wasn't very surprised at all," Sorlie said of her reaction when Sletto scored. "Sara has had some really good corners this year and we've had some good opportunities off the runs so I was feeling pretty confident about that one.

While the long-awaited goal gave the Jays some breathing room and helped the team settle in, they still needed to contend with a surging Mandan offense for 22 minutes. Sorlie made six saves in the box.

"I feel a lot of pressure but honestly, I just try and have a clear mind," Sorlie said of what she feels when an attacker comes her way. "I don't think about making a mistake because if I do, that's when I'll mess up."

Sorlie's production in the box has earned the trust of her teammates.

"I am never nervous," Sletto said. "Sometimes I don't even turn around to watch the whole play."

"I trust her with my whole heart," fellow senior Reese Christ said. "It's like, oh, Jerry's got it."

The senior's shutout against Mandan was her 11th of the year. She has faced 56 shots and has made 53 saves. All three goals allowed came against Minot back on April 23.

While neither team had many chances for scoring on Saturday, Altringer said he was proud of his squad for figuring out how to make adjustments and play through adversity as a team.

"If we tell our girls what to do, they will do it to a tee but as a team, we have a hard time when what we tell them to do changes," Altringer said. "Thursday and Friday, in practice, we gave them the ideas and worked on what we could do with those ideas. Things like — if we can't directly play out wide can we bypass? Can we look for Reese at the nine? If we can't find our 2s and 3s can we bypass and use our 11s?

"Today, they figured out how to play against Mandan on their own," he said. "That was good to see. It was a good team win for us. Now we can kind of set our own path — we don't have to rely on other people losing. If we take care of business the next four games, we automatically get second place (in the West) and we would have the best team finish since 2017. That's our goal for them.

Jamestown 1, Mandan 0

MAN 0 0 — 0

JHS 0 1 — 1

Scoring

First half

No scoring.

Second half

1. JHS, Sara Sletto (unassisted), 18th minute.

Shots on goal: Mandan 6; Jamestown 3

Goalkeeper saves: Mandan, Hannah Forderer 2; Jamestown, Olivia Sorlie 6