OCEAN CITY – The defending Cape-Atlantic League champion Ocean City Red Raiders are headed back to defend their lacrosse crown at Carey Stadium in the championship game Thursday.
They’ll face rival Mainland Regional High School, which pushed them to double overtime when the teams met earlier this season. Ocean City won that match, 4-3.
Ocean City (8-9, 5-0 American Division) took on St. Joseph Academy (7-9, 4-1 American) in the semifinals on Monday and scored eight unanswered goals in the second half to come away with a dominant 11-3 win. The Raiders took complete control of the game after a tight 3-2 halftime lead.
Jack Scherbin led the way with five goals and an assist in the game. He helped create offense at every vital point of the game. He scored twice in the first quarter to give the Raiders the lead and came back in the second half with three more goals once St. Joseph made it close.
After the game, Scherbin said the team needed to “wake up” after the slow start.
“We just realized we weren’t coming to play in that first half and had to come back from it,” Scherbin said.
Ocean City scored twice within the first three minutes of the second half, including a goal by sophomore Otter Donohue, who finished the game with a hat trick. Anthony DiLorenzo and Anthony Pontari piled on scores of their own to ensure a decisive win.
“At halftime we talked about playing with more intensity,” Ocean City assistant coach Stephen Scheffler said. “St. Joe’s were going to make some plays out there, but we just had to move on and stay focused on the next play.”
With the win, Ocean City will advance to the Cape-Atlantic League championship game against the resurgent Mainland Mustangs. The game is set to begin at 4 p.m. Thursday.
In their lone matchup of the season on April 24, Ocean City stunned the Mustangs and came back from a 3-1 second half deficit to win 4-3 in double overtime. The Raiders narrowly avoided their first loss to a Mustang team that has not beaten them since 2018.
Ocean City’s win over Mainland a month ago gave them the No. 1 seed in the tournament over Mainland and the right to have the rematch at home.
“It means everything that we are home for this one, but they are really tough and gave us a run for our money in the last game and it is not going to be any different this time,” Scherbin said.
Since the league adopted a lacrosse tournament in the 2021-2022 season, Ocean City has made all four championship games and has an undefeated 3-0 record in the title game.
The Mustangs (13-5, 4-1 American Division) clobbered Middle Township High School (13-3, 6-0 National Division) on the other side of the bracket 15-3 and have set their sights on the rematch against Ocean City.
Harrison LaMonaca had the big game for the Mustangs with four goals and two assists. Joe Eyde and Luke Hall had three goals each, Ryan Scannell had two and Tony DeSalle, Liam Kennedy and Dylan Grant scored one each.
“I am expecting another very hard-fought game,” Scheffler said. “Mainland is a strong team this year and we had a very tough game against them earlier this year.”
– By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
