Cape boys’ lacrosse loses at Wilmington Friends 10-8

The Cape boys’ lacrosse game late Wednesday afternoon at Wilmington Friends was 96 degrees in the shade, except there were no trees and no clouds, just ground rubber under green vinyl at Mellor turf field. The weather was convection-oven heatwave hot; players and fans cooked uniformly on all sides.

Two turf fields in beautiful hocus-pocus Alapocas connected by a single wobbly porta-potty, and the Vikings’ mission was to knock off the Quakers, Delaware’s only unbeaten boys’ lacrosse team.

Early in the third period after leading 5-3 at halftime, the Vikings eased out to a 7-4 advantage but got stoned twice in close by freshman goalie Jackson Skinner, missing a chance to cushion the lead. The Quakers then went on a 5-0 run to lead 9-7 in the fourth quarter behind sophomore midfielder Peyton McNeill with 4 goals and junior River Harper with 3.

Cape lost the game 10-8 to finish at 11-4 on the  season, while Wilmington Friends improved to 14-0 with a Friday game remaining at Charter.

The Vikings’ four losses came by a total of six goals, and all were games that were tied in the fourth quarter.

“We play hard, but we need to be more consistent,” said coach Mark D’Ambrogi after the game. ”We’ve had several chances over these games to extend the lead and we haven’t done it. In close games against good teams, you have to capitalize; we have to do a better job finishing. “

Cape was led in goals by Jake Trimmer and Luke D’Ambrogi each with 2, and single scores by Eric Stancofski, Brock Maloomian, Patrick Monigle and Greg Boyce.

Quakers goals were by Peyton McNeill 4, River Harper 3, Matt Torneck 2 and Owen Ganse 1.

Brendan Kane had 7 saves for Cape while Jackson Skinner recorded 12.