Cape hockey beats Milford 5-0 on Senior Night
The field hockey game between Milford and Cape Nov. 17 at Champions Stadium was dedicated to Jack McPike. It was also Senior Night, featuring masked families.
Andrea Fleming McPike, the Milford coach, is married to Jack’s older brother, Dan. Both teams wore ribbons with Jack’s No. 11. There were personalized masks passed around that were made by the Milford Boosters. Cape and Milford are intersecting communities, crosshatched and connected across generations.
The ball was dropped, and it was game on, no mercy, take no prisoners. Milford was outgunned, but goalie Madeline Sekcinski – her dad Frank a football and basketball player from the Class of ’88 – charged from her cage to make saves, accruing 12 for the game, which included 18 shots and 17 penalty corners.
The first period was scoreless, but the assault on the net continued into the second period. Reagan Ciabattoni went head-high on a penalty stroke at 10:54, then Lily Ashby scored off an assist from Noelle Sabbagh at 6:08. The halftime score was 2-0. Coach McPike told her team, “You guys played great. You have another 30 minutes to score three goals. Don’t be content with just playing well. Go out there and try to win this game.”
Ciabattoni converted her second stroke of the game at 6:15 of the third quarter, while Sabbagh scored a pair of second-half goals on assists from Riley Klopp and Emily Monigle, as Cape won 5-0.
Julie Heffernan was pressed into making one save for the Vikings.
Cape improves to 8-1 on the season and next plays at Polytech (5-5) Thursday, Nov. 19, then at Dover (7-2) Monday, Nov. 3.
Milford is 6-3-1 and next plays at Dover.
