Cape hockey clinches Henlopen North with 7-0 win at CR
Fans, photographers and goalies all share the same problem when tracking Cape hockey's assault on the cage inside the circle: “Where is the ball and what was that noise?” Clank!
Cape secured the Northern Division title of the Henlopen Conference Oct. 26 at Caesar Rodney with a 7-0 victory over the Riders behind a 45-0 advantage in shots and 18-0 margin in corners.
Riders goalie Bailkey Minear was side-to-side sliding, jumping and diving, saving shots with her paws and claws and giving her body up to make saves. Minear was credited with 27 real-deal saves and limited Cape to just two second-half goals after the Vikings led 5-0 at halftime.
Cape is now 12-1 overall with Northern Division home games remaining against Sussex Central and Milford. Smyrna has two Northern Division losses to Polytech and Cape, which gives the Vikings the tiebreaker in the event Cape collapses and loses its last two games.
Mackenzie Brown led the Vikings with a hat trick. Sam Connors, now up on corners, had two goals, while Molly Mendez and Carrie Clausius had single tallies.
Cape assists were Reagan Ciabattoni with two and singles from Connors, Lulu Rishko and Ella Rishko.
Cape’s backline defense of Emma Duffield, Sierra Manifold and Grace Wiggins protected goalies Morgan Newcomb and Anna Lopez, who saw the same number of shots as Brutus the Bulldog – zero.
Cape won the JV game 3-0 on goals by Lexi Silicato, Mallori Stevenson and Kayla Sponaugle with an assist from Samantha Swift. The JV team is 7-2-3 on the season.
Cape’s Senior Day will be 4 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 2 on the Bermuda field. A Henlopen Conference Championship game Cape versus Delmar (most likely) will be at 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 6, at Sussex Academy. It will be followed by Indian River soccer versus Caesar Rodney at 4 p.m.
