OCEAN CITY — The Red Raider girls lacrosse team has been ricocheting back and forth between Cape-Atlantic League foes and tough out-of-conference opponents in a packed schedule this spring.
Ocean City High School’s girls are a perfect 7-0 in the CAL, with its most recent win coming Friday afternoon in a 14-3 victory over a young Mainland Regional High School team, followed the next day with a 14-4 loss to Allentown on Saturday.
Overall, the Raiders are 9-5 this season, with all of the losses against tough opponents including Cape Henlopen, Haddonfield, Rumson-Fair Haven and Villa Maria Academy.
“The CAL provides us the opportunity to focus on ourselves and work on the things we need to improve on day in and day out,” Ocean City head coach Lesley Graham said. “The non-conference opponents are something we don’t see on repeat during the season. In the CAL, you play everybody twice.
“Outside the CAL, you get to choose who you want to face — do they play a certain style of defense or run a certain offense, or a ton of speed or depth? Having that variety of opponents contributes to our ability to prepare for state playoffs,” she said. “Ultimately, that is the goal at the beginning of the season — to play through May.”
With at least a half-dozen of her players committed to play in college, most at Division I, the added competition helps her girls prepare for their next level of play.
“It’s important to have those opportunities to learn those things we need to improve upon and learn what works for us,” Graham said. “These non-conference games give us that chance.”
Graham said they have gone to the maximum number of regular season games (18) this spring to prepare for the playoffs and gain power points to get a better seeding.
With only a few games to go before the Cape-Atlantic League tournament and sectionals, senior attacker and middie Delainey Sutley leads the team with goals at 37, points with 43 and draw controls with 87. Senior Kelsea Cooke has 27 goals, junior Ryan Cooke has 20, junior Brynn Culmone and freshman Marley Ostrander have 19 goals each, senior Gracie Pierce has 17 and sophomore Katie Pierce has 12. Culmone and Gracie Pierce lead in assists with 15 each. Ostrander’s next with 11.
Senior goalie Presley Green has recorded 96 saves so far.
“Our captains — Delainey Sutley, Gracie Pierce, Julianna Duff, Kelsea Cooke — have really stepped up this year. They’re all four seniors and are committed to play Division I lacrosse. They are All-Conference players,” Graham said. “They provide consistency on both ends of the field.”
She noted she has been “pleasantly surprised” by the freshman, Ostrander, and having Green back. After returning from injury, Green “has been able to find consistency in the cage,” Graham said.
“You have been able to see (Ostrander’s) progress and her confidence develop over the season. In my opinion, at this point, she is no longer playing like a freshman. That’s great to see.”
The coach made a point of saying how there is “no hierarchy” among her players; regardless of their class, “everybody out there wants their team to be successful. They don’t care who puts the ball in the back of the net as long as it’s an Ocean City jersey.”
That factors into how the upperclassmen support the younger players on the field.
The Raider girls host OLMA at 6 p.m. Thursday at Carey Stadium and host Paul VI at 10 a.m. Saturday at their field at Tennessee Avenue.
