Cape girls’ lax play day features the speed of successful teams
Cape hosted a girls’ lacrosse power play day March 14, a tradition since 2009. It would be more aptly named We Don’t Play Day. Nationally ranked teams are invited; many are coming off state championships the previous spring. They show up with their monogrammed canopies ready to camp out at the beach for a four-game day of friendly lacrosse.
Cape, the perennial Delaware state champions, hosted Glenelg followed by Manchester Valley, Marriotts Ridge and Bishop Shanahan.
Glenelg lost to Manchester Valley in a Maryland state final last spring. Marriotts Ridge won its group state finals and is nationally ranked this season. Bishop Shanahan lost in the Pennsylvania state finals.
Fans along the fence could see what was going on but also realized with all the combinations and permutations of players of both teams that only the coaches had a handle on how to judge success.
Cape coach Lindsey Underwood said, “I like having such tough scrimmages early on to really expose what we need to work on. Overall, there were no surprises. It’s just a matter of cleaning up some passes and playing with each other to get better offensive flow. I would like to see us be a little bit grittier and aggressive over the next few practices. All things to be expected at this point in the season.”
Cape returns all but three players, who are now playing college lacrosse – Macy Steinwedel at Old Dominion, Lina Frederick at Salisbury and Abbey Schaffer at Stockton University.
The Vikings have two new goalies in senior Jordan Murray, a transfer from Garrison Forrest, and Emily Wells, a senior back in the mix after taking a year off.
“Both goalies played great and were seeing the ball well,” Underwood said. “It’s great having Emily back, and Jordan has been a really good addition to the team. The speed of play at this scrimmage is extremely high every year, and it is a great way to remind our team where we need to be heading into the season.”
Cape opens the season Wednesday, March 25, at Caesar Rodney before hosting Broadneck Saturday, March 28.
