LINWOOD — The Cedar Creek High School Pirates used two third-quarter goals to top the Mainland Regional High School Mustangs field hockey team Oct. 11 in Linwood.
Senior Carlene Mains opened the scoring for the Pirates, netting her fourth goal of the season at 8:42 of the third quarter off an assist from Chesney Bugdon.
Less than 3 minutes later, Bugdon scored her own goal with 5:53 remaining in the third, giving her 9 for the season and putting her in a tie for the team lead with fellow senior Abby Messina, who notched her seventh assist this year.
Mainland, which is in third place in the Cape-Atlantic League National Division behind the Cedar Creek (second, 9-4-1, 8-1 division) and Our Lady of Mercy Academy (first, 8-3-1, 8-0-1 division), fell to 6-4-2 overall and in the division.
It was at least the second straight victory for the Pirates over the Mustangs, as Cedar Creek won their previous matchup this season 2-1 on Sept. 21.
Mainland started strong in the first quarter, getting pressure on Cedar Creek goalie Delfina Vanelli, who made four saves in the win.
But the Pirates took over momentum in the second quarter and maintained pressure and possession throughout the rest of the contest.
Cedar Creek had 13 shots on goal to Mainland’s four, while the Pirates also had a heavy advantage in corners, with 15 to the Mustangs’ three.
Mainland goalie Emma Tomlin made 11 saves in net.
Mustang head coach Erin O’Connell said Cedar Creek had a lot of good offensive pressure and her girls “started to play a little frantic.”
“I think that we had pretty good momentum in the first quarter and then after the stop, it definitely became more evenly matched and Cedar Creek definitely took the momentum after that,” she said. “I think we played hard, we just weren’t able to capitalize on our offensive opportunities because they had strong defensive pressure.”
Team captain Kaitlyn Stanchina said it was a difficult game and a tough loss.
She said the team needs to “stay collected and play together.”
“We don’t want to worry about our losses. We just want to keep on pushing through and doing everything we can to move forward,” the senior said.
Cedar Creek head coach Kelsi Walker said the win put the Pirates in a good place to win the division at home Friday in their matchup against OLMA and could go a long way toward playoff positioning.
“We needed that win. Mainland is a big power point school, so this win today will hopefully boost us. We are hoping to have a home playoff game and this increased our chances a little it,” Walker said.
The Villagers won the first matchup 1-0 and the Pirates were looking for revenge.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
