At this time of the season, each match is meaningful for teams with hopes of reaching the playoffs.

Entering Thursday’s contest against Jim Thorpe, Tamaqua’s girls soccer team was closing in on a district playoff berth and contending for a spot in Schuylkill League postseason.

Still, the Blue Raiders are managing to take it one game at a time.

On Senior Appreciation Night, Tamaqua came through with an impressive performance against defending league champion Jim Thorpe and rolled to a 6-1 victory.

The win keeps the Raiders (8-4; 6-2) in third place in Division 1 of the Schuylkill League, one game behind first-place Pottsville (7-1) and a half-game back of Blue Mountain (6-1). It also clinched a spot in the upcoming Class 2A district playoffs, based on at least a .500 mark in the league.

“This is big for us, because we clinched a spot in the league and I’m pretty sure in the district,” said Clem McCarroll, the longtime Tamaqua head coach. “We’ve just got to continue to get better and see where we can go.”

The Raiders were dominating in all aspects of the contest against the Olympians.

Their defense was stingy, and their offense aggressive as they raced to a 5-0 first-half lead.

Kimmy Rudy scored the first of her two goals at the 29:46 mark before assisting Sarah Hope, who made it 2-0.

Hope would then deliver passes to set up the next three goals - all to different teammates. Abby Leinbach accounted for the third goal while Rudy’s second tally pushed the advantage to 4-0.

Hope then made a picture-perfect feed to sophomore Katie Fredericks, who connected at the 9:58 to boost the margin to five goals.

“We were back on our heels the entire first half,” said first-year Olympian mentor Chris Geiser. “I don’t know what it is … we don’t play up to our potential in the first half, and then the switch goes on. It’s been that way all season for us.”

Tamaqua kicked in the running clock just six minutes into the second half.

Fredricks picked up her second tally of the night to give the Raiders a commanding 6-0 lead.

Thorpe (3-6; 1-4) dented the scoring column as Ella Cook ruined Tamaqua’s bid for a shutout with 10 minutes to play. Sarah Hartman assisted on the goal.

BY THE NUMBERS … Tamaqua had 21 shots - 18 in the first half - and 7 corners. Winning goalkeeper sophomore Cecilia Ulicny recorded eight saves. Thorpe goalkeeper Olivia Rosenberger had 12 first-half saves and 14 on the evening. Thorpe had only one first-half shot on goal.

THREE SENIORS … Tamaqua has three seniors who were honored prior to the game. They include Ava Agosti, Hope and Leinbach.