Share: 

Cape hockey blanks Dover 5-0 to win Henlopen North

Ciabattoni hat trick; Mack Brown back in town
November 24, 2020

Dover coach Denise Kimbro said before Monday night’s home game versus Cape, “This is my last regular-season game. I’ve had a 30-year career. I look forward to the playoffs.” 

The Vikings won 5-0 to finish the regular season 10-1 and will play Delmar Monday, Nov. 30, at DE Turf for the Henlopen Conference Championship. 

Dover fell to 9-3 and will be one of the top seeds in the DIAA state tournament.

Kimbro knows about playing Cape, Delmar and other bona fide teams each year inside the Henlopen Conference. Tower Hill in 2008 was the last team outside the Henlopen Conference to win a state championship. 

Dover stunned Cape in 2017, winning at Dover Stadium 2-1. Cape coaches knew about Kimbo’s retirement and certainly had a fresh memory of 2017. 

“Dover is always dangerous,” said Cape coach Kate Austin. “They are athletic, well coached and come after you. If you get behind them early, and with their good goalie [Richana Brown], it can be a long night.”

Brown stopped a Noelle Sabbagh penalty stroke in the first quarter and was mobbed by her teammates.

But in the second quarter, Reagan Ciabattoni, Cape’s midfield marauder, cranked up her meep-meep mojo game, scoring on a backhander at 7:16. She followed that with a head-high penalty stroke at 2:01. 

Another Ciabattoni horizontal rocket off an assist from Lily Ashby came at 8:08 of the third quarter to make the score 3-0. 

The Cape squad came loose with 2:04 left in the third period, when Mackinzie Brown settled a rebounded shot and poked it into the corner of the net for her first goal of the season. Brown had been sidelined with a back issue, so her goal was a welcome home celebration.

Sabbagh scored at 12:26 of the fourth quarter off a Ciabattoni assist for the 5-0 final score.

“Ella [Rishko] and Emily [Monigle] – The Double E – played great tonight,” Austin said. 

Cape outshot the Senators 22-5 with an 8-3 advantage in penalty corners. Julie Heffernan had five saves for Cape. Heffernan finished the regular season with seven shutouts, allowing five total goals on the season.

 

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter