LINWOOD – In the battle of rivals, Delainey Sutley helped Ocean City dominate from start to finish last Thursday in a convincing 18-7 victory over Mainland in girls lacrosse play.
Going into this week, Ocean City’s record sits at 4-3 on the season but they remain undefeated in Cape-Atlantic League division play at 4-0. The loss marked the first Cape-Atlantic defeat for Mainland (2-1, 3-4 overall).
“We love the Battle of the Bridge,” Ocean City coach Lesley Graham said, describing the bridge that connects Ocean City with Somers Point that has become symbolic of the rivalry in all the sports between two schools.
“The girls said they wanted to keep the bridge [lights] red tonight. I think there are always heightened emotions whenever it’s a rivalry game. Whatever the sport, it doesn’t get better than Mainland vs. Ocean City. So, I think it pumps the girls up and gives them a little extra motivation to really hammer out the game plan. They did that today,” Graham said.
Sutley, who is verbally committed to continue playing lacrosse at Rutgers University, scored 6 goals, a new single-game career high, 4 of those goals in the second half.
“We love a good rivalry game and it’s nice coming to Mainland and beating them on their home field,” Sutley said. “So, we’re just going to take this with us and hopefully continue to build on this for the rest of our conference games. This is just building momentum for us from here.
“We definitely take our conference games very seriously. We try to bring out the best during our (CAL) games. Whenever we are in CAL games we want to come out and make sure we take care of business,” Sutley said.
Kelsea Cooke contributed 4 goals while Brynn Culmone and Madison Wenner added 3 goals each.
“(Sutley) was impressive today,” Graham said. “She’s a very talented player and works really hard every second she’s out on the field. One of the things that I love most about her is that while she’s working hard at being an offensive threat, she’s an unselfish player.
“She’s always looking for the open girl when she gets doubled. She knows that kids are looking for her from a defensive standpoint. She is a complete player on the field and she’s always wanting to give up the ball to the open player, which is a true testament to her as a teammate.”
Graham lauded the defensive play of the Red Raiders, including Maddy Monteleone, for keeping Mainland’s offense from gaining any momentum. The Mustangs never managed to keep any consistent offensive pressure on Ocean City, preventing them from stringing together to goals needed to get back into the contest.
“It was very important for us to get off to a great start because that carries you throughout the game,” Monteleone said. “If you can build up your momentum then everybody’s getting hype and then it’s just like a great game.”
Ocean City grabbed a 5-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game, controlling play nearly exclusively on Mainland’s end of the field.
“One of the things that I really pride ourselves on is our depth offensively,” Graham said. “At any given moment, the seven that we have out there are seven offensive threats in a variety of ways, whether it’s feeding, driving, cutting.
“I think that depth and that diversity of threats is what allows us to keep our foot on the gas at all times.”
After Ava Sheeran scored Mainland’s first goal with 11:03 left to play in the first half, Ocean City reeled off four more goals before the end of the half, two of those by Sutley. The Red Raiders would eventually take a 9-3 lead into halftime.
Opening the second half red hot, Ocean City extended its lead to double-digits, 15-5, after outscoring Mainland 6-2 over the first 15 minutes into the half as the Red Raiders continued to dominate play.
Eva Blanco and Jane Meade scored 2 goals each for Mainland. The Mustangs’ coach, Kelly Klever, said it was important for Mainland not to dig such a hole against a quality opponent like Ocean City. She said it is no secret the type of game her team had to play against the Red Raiders.
“They’re Ocean City. They have a good lacrosse program and a great coach and that’s the nature of lacrosse,” Klever said. “It’s a very fast sport and things can change in a matter of seconds.”
Ocean City, though, could not follow up the Mainland win with a victory, dropping a 10-8 decision to Cherokee on Saturday. The Red Raiders continued their play on Monday against Holy Spirit. They will take on Lower Cape May on Wednesday.
Mainland, which was idle over the weekend, took on Lower Cape May at home on Monday and will continue their play against always-strong Middle Township on Wednesday and Rancocas Valley on Thursday.
Klever said while Mainland has played a difficult early schedule, she hopes that will start to pay off as the season progresses. Mainland will get a second shot at Ocean City when the two teams will square off again on May 9 at Ocean City’s oceanside Carey Stadium.
“We have probably one of the most challenging schedules this season,” Klever said. “Our goal is to keep playing those competitive teams, keep growing our program and keep growing our players to be able to handle that type of pressure. That is what we want to be a part of.”
Klever praised the play of Sheeran, who helped keep the Mustangs in the game early.
“She takes our draws and she just does everything on the field that we asked her to. She does everything for us except play goalie. Her hustle, heart and dedication are something that I can’t even really put into words.”
Raiders top Holy Spirit
Ocean City improved to 5-3 with a 19-11 win over Holy Spirit. Sutley scored 8 goals and Maddie Wenner scored 6 in the victory.
Mainland beat LCMR 11-9 with Eva Blanco scored 4 goals and Jane Meade and Avery Notaro 3 each.
Photos by DAVID NAHAN
By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
