Red Raiders beat Holy Spirit 16-4
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP – In the first-ever Cape Atlantic League Lacrosse Tournament, the Red Raiders girls kicked off a good night for Ocean City High School. They were the first half of a double-header between Ocean City and Holy Spirit in which both teams came away with titles.
The Raiders scored two in the first minute and never looked back as they took the championship 16-4 behind five goals from sophomore Delainey Sutley.
“Just come in, take over, come out with a W,” Sutley said. “We tried to push the tempo of the game to make sure we carry our momentum through.”
“That sets the tone for the game,” head coach Lesley Graham said. “That whistle went, we put our foot on the gas and we did not let up for 50 minutes.”
Ocean City did a lot of their damage in transition, finishing before the defense could set.
“We get the ball down as fast as we can, we push the pace,” Sutley said.
“That was all a part of our game plan,” Graham said. “I put a lot of effort into creating scouting reports, watching film, coming up with game plans, and the kids are able to implement them, which is fantastic. I do the ‘legwork’ and they do the actual legwork. It shows them and it shows everybody the strength we have in numbers and lax IQ.
“We have some very talented lacrosse players who can see something on film or on a report and put it into practice, and as a coach that’s all you can ask for. To see them be able to execute what we work on was top-notch,” the coach said.
Sutley had a hat trick barely 10 minutes into the game, scoring in a variety of ways.
“It was just a good game,” she shrugged.
The Ocean City attack proved just as effective when they slowed down and set the offense up, working the ball around until they found an opening.
“We always pride ourselves on our team approach,” Graham said. “We have some individual stars but when those kids get doubled, or need a break, we have other kids who step up just as much and they’re just as much of a threat. It’s fantastic.”
While the game was still close, goalie Presley Green came up with a few tough stops to hold the lead.
“She really came through with the saves,” Sutley said.
Shortly after an underhand shot from Sutley pushed the lead to 4-1, Raider freshman Faith Pacquing went down with what looked to be a serious knee injury.
“Obviously having a kid go down was a huge devastation for us,” Graham said. “I’m proud of the girls for being able to keep their heads in the game and rally around that.”
The Raiders led 9-3 at halftime, then outscored the Spartans 7-1 in the second half to bring on the running clock.
Nine different players scored at least one goal for the Raiders including two each from Madison Wenner, Ally Leeds and Rachel Levy-Smith and one each from Brynn Culmone, Olivia Vanesko, Kelsea Cooke, Grace McAfee and Gracie Pierce.
“We have some very talented individual players,” Graham said, “and being able to highlight that talent within a group setting is a really good dynamic for us.”
In recent years, though not a given, winning the CAL via having the best record has been an expectation for the program.
Now the attention shifts to what will hopefully be a deep postseason tournament.
“We’re ready to make a run for it,” Sutley said.
“Luckily we get home field to start,” Graham said. “We’re the 4-seed in Group III South, so we get home advantage our first round which helps set the tone. It’s a hard road to a state title. I think Group III is stacked this year. The top four teams are Moorestown, Cherry Hill West, Shawnee and us. On any given day you don’t know what could happen. We talk about how this is our second season, playoffs are the second season, so it doesn’t really matter what happened before. We’re in the here and now.”
However the postseason plays out, the Raiders will stick with what got them this far.
“We pride ourselves on our style of play,” Graham said. “We prepare for whatever we’re going to see, but at the end of the day we always focus on what we do. We play hard, we play smart, we play together.”
The Raiders hosted Clearview for the quarterfinal round of South Jersey Group III Tuesday after the Sentinel went to press.
– By KYLE McCRANE/Sentinel Sports
– Photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
