OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City High School girls lacrosse team lost its last two games to out-of-conference opponents, but that’s part of preparing for the post-season.
Ocean City is 5-2 overall and leads the American Division of the Cape-Atlantic League at 5-0. The Red Raiders fell to Allentown 12-11 on Saturday and to Strath Haven 14-7 Monday afternoon.
“I believe that Group III South, which is the group that we are in, is one of the toughest groups in the state,” head coach Lesley Graham said Monday after the Strath Haven game. “It has perennial powerhouses Moorestown, Shawnee, Cherry Hill West, all three currently ranked in (the) top 20. If we have the opportunity to challenge ourselves out of conference, we’re going to take those opportunities.”
There is an important mindset at work, the coach added.
“Nobody wants to lose, but you learn so much from a loss. And so we really try to value what we gain out of all of these tough non-conference opponents.”
Graham said her girls played well given the team had three strong opponents in five days, including Holy Spirit. The girls won that game 10-4.
“I think you could see it as the third quarter started to approach. We got fatigued, both physically and mentally, and I think even more so than the physical fatigue was the mental side of it,” the coach said of Monday’s game. “When you break down mentally, that’s when you start making little mistakes. And Strath Haven is a good team that capitalized on our mistakes.”
As she noted in a season preview, her team is packed with “youthful energy” and is a different team than in past years. “I think we’re still in the process of figuring out how the pieces fit together.”
Being undefeated in the Cape-Atlantic League “is a testament to the leadership that we have and the talent that we have and the passion and dedication, but it’s not an overnight fix. It’s something that takes time and effort and energy, and the girls are putting in the work every day at practice for the dividends to pay off come postseason play.”
Katie Pierce, Marley Dwyer and Ryan Cooke scored two goals apiece in Monday’s loss and Laurel Munning scored the other one.
Against Allentown Saturday morning, Marley Ostrander had three goals. Pierce, Cooke and Manning had two each. Allie Hudson and Dwyer each scored as well.
Cooke had the hot stick in the April 10 win over Holy Spirit, scoring four goals. Dwyer had two and Pierce, Munning, Bella Dounoulis and Ostrander had one each.
Cooke, a senior, leads the team in scoring with 16 goals through the first seven games and Dwyer, a freshman, is next with 13, tied with junior Pierce and sophomore Ostrander. Hudson, a junior, had 11 goals, Munning, a sophomore, had 10.
Munning is the points leader with 29 courtesy of her 19 assists, also a team-leading stat.
The girls host Lower Cape May Regional High School at 2 p.m. Thursday.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
