Cape soccer defeats Smyrna 5-1, falls to Peddie School
Cape continued their winning ways with a 5-1 win over conference foe Smyrna Sept. 15 at Legends Stadium. Junior Zack Gelof netted two goals to push his total to five in three games.
The Eagles struck first at the 11-minute mark, then the Vikings took flight, scoring five straight to remain undefeated at 2-0-1 on the season. Troy Humphries put in an unassisted goal at the 28-minute mark in the contest. And the half ended 1-1.
The second half started off on a play that has worked three times so far this season, as Dane Palmer hit Zack Gelof with a throw-in, and Gelof put it past the opposing goalkeeper and into the back of the cage. Gelof scored again at the 45-minute mark from a pass from little brother Jake.
Captain Richard Carey hit twine at 51 minutes unassisted, and Uly Slagle finished off the scoring with an assist from Eric Valasquez-Santizo at the 64-minute mark.
“We didn’t show very well in the Seaford and Smyrna matches,” said Cape coach Patrick Kilby. “We are trying to find a way to defend with a sense of urgency in the defensive third of the field. We’ve had good effort, but transitionally we’re not there yet.”
Cape’s goalkeeper Brent Hockrein must have felt like a bullseye in a carnival shooting gallery as he faced 33 shots in the game with the Peddie School Saturday, Sept. 17. He successfully stopped 30 of them in the Vikings’ 3-2 loss to the New Jersey soccer powerhouse.
“Brent [Hochrein] had a great game,” said Kilby. “It was his best ever.”
Peddie head coach Peter McClellan was quick to praise Brent and said, “He would do a good job at the college level.”
“Peddie is filled with Division One talent,” said Kilby. “They provided us with a different set of challenges. They had more discipline and came at us in waves, then attacked us. We had to adjust on the fly with how they attacked. They were so fast and technical.”
Cape had eight shots in the contest and had three corner kicks.
Richard Carey and Zack Gelof scored for the Vikings with assists from Aidan Spoor and Jake Gelof, respectively.
“Peddie gave us a great look at what Sallies and Charter might look like,” said Kilby. “We just need to defend with more patience in that we need to contain the attacking players and keep the ball in front of us and not over commit.”
Cape takes their 2-1-1 record to Sussex Academy Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m.
