By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — It was all about the extra space.
The Red Raiders girls soccer team got revenge for the only blemish on their otherwise perfect season Tuesday, Oct. 27, beating the Panthers 3-0 to avenge a nil-nil tie Oct. 6.
On the turf at Carey Stadium, Ocean City (5-0-1) found enough room to get around the bunkered defense of Middle Township (5-2-1) and put 3 goals in the back of the net.
“Their goalie is absolutely legit, their center backs, absolutely legit. We tried our best to break them down on their small field and we were just getting more and more frustrated as the game went on,” coach Lisa Cuneo said of the first matchup. “We knew the space here was absolutely going to be in our favor, and it was just a matter of time.”
She said it’s harder to play the Red Raiders’ style of soccer on Middle’s smaller field.
“All of our through balls at Middle Township were going out of bounds and we didn’t have the width to go around them. It’s definitely an advantage to us to be here,” she said.
Even on the larger field, the Panthers held the Red Raiders scoreless for long periods of the game.
“I give props to Middle Township. They are well coached and executing exactly what they are supposed to be executing, but we have our seniors, we have Summer (Reimet, a junior), we have Hope (Slimmer, a junior),” Cuneo said. “We have the experience to know what they need to do to get the job done.”
The coach said both teams played hard and Ocean City was fortunate to get the win.
“Middle Township threw everything they had at us and luckily we came out on top because we threw everything that we had back at them,” she said. “A proper size field, that’s what the difference is.”
Summer Reimet, who entered the game tied with Faith Slimmer with 9 goals apiece, broke the nearly 90-minute stalemate (over two games) with a goal in the 10th minute off an assist from right back Suzy Dietrich.
Dietrich got the ball on the right side and passed to Reimet, who took a touch off her knee and split the defenders to get in one on one with Panthers goalie Brynn Bock, whom she easily beat to make the score 1-0 at 30:47.
Dietrich scored a goal of her own from distance in the 10th minute of the second half. Following a corner kick that Faith Slimmer played short to Reimet, the ball bounced loose to the right outside back, who struck a volley from about 28 yards out that beat Bock high in the corner to make it 2-0.
“We have a really big field and I like to utilize that and take shots from far out. I know that I can, so I like to take advantage of the high line that they are playing,” Dietrich said.
The Red Raiders played nearly the entire game in the Panthers’ half of the field, but that made it difficult for the offense to score.
“We kind of had to switch up our formation from the last game to open up some new channels and make some new things work,” Dietrich said. “With the formation and the plan that Middle was playing, our normal style of play wasn’t working for us, but it can’t hurt to switch it up and try new things, put players at new positions and have them do different things.”
Cuneo said her players’ experience allows her to switch things up depending on the opponent.
“I think we executed what we wanted to do appropriately, utilized our space on the turf, changed a few things in our formation for that little added oomph and that little added spark that we needed,” Cuneo said, adding that she positioned Kelsey White forward and Paige Panico to defense to play as an attacking outside back.
“This was the first full execution of that. It’s just another idea and we have the pieces that we can moved around, which is good. They’re all experienced, especially those five seniors out there — you can put them anywhere, honestly, and they’ll figure it out.”
With time running down, Faith Slimmer found Panico, who used her speed to get free in on Bock and calmly put away a left-footed shot with 3 minutes remaining to complete the scoring.
Throughout the game, Reimet and Faith Slimmer were offsides multiple times, but Cuneo said she is glad they are eager to get the ball.
“I’d rather them be there and get called offsides than be out of position, so it only takes one time to be in and they’re in. Especially when they play that high up and that flat. It’s just a matter of time until you get one through, and it did, it happened,” she said. “We’re not known for the breakaway speed, but I would rather have 20 offsides calls and the one time it’s on, it’s on and the ball’s in the back of the net.”
Red Raiders goalie Tory Vliet didn’t have a lot to do, being called on to make just 3 saves. “It felt really good. We’ve been training all week for this. We knew that we could’ve done it in the first place, but we just wanted to prove it here on our turf,” Vliet said.
Middle has four senior starters on its defense — Isabella Aftanis, Morgan Adams, Shelby Repici and Anna Bond — as well as goalkeeper Bock.
Vliet said the Panthers’ defense is strong and “they really tend to pack it in, so we just had to work through getting through and around that.”
She said the team is not used to a defense playing such a high line and that it’s something they just have to get used to because other teams will do it too.
Ocean City was at Our Lady of Mercy Academy Tuesday afternoon after the Sentinel sports section went to press. The Red Raider girls are at Lower Cape May at 11 a.m. Thursday.