The Cape field hockey team won consecutive games against Dover 5-0 and Padua 11-1, which is nothing to text home about as the fan base is on the other side of the fence.

The Vikings improved to 12-0 on the season, a mild surprise for a team that lost 11 seniors to graduation and now has just two seniors, Macy Steinwedel and Lina Frederick. Both girls were honored before the Oct. 12 Senior Day game against Padua.  

Cape outshot the Pandas 30-3, with a 13-5 advantage in penalty corners. 

Cape’s 11-goal production featured a career-high five goals by Emily Wells, who also added an assist. Avary Miller had two goals and an assist, while Steinwedel had a goal and two assists. Single goals were scored by Claire Lopez, Mairead Rishko and Alysa McCarthy. 

Izzy Mekulski was credited with a save for the Vikings. 

The Padua goal was scored by Rebekah Haney. Pandas goalie Taylor Kozink was credited with 15 saves. 

“The coaching staff wasn’t very happy with our play following the Dover game, but we had a good team meeting before practice Friday and saw an immediate change in play Friday that carried over into Saturday,” said Cape coach Kate Austin. “We just stressed the importance of accountability and being a good teammate by working hard and improving each day. [Against Padua] we connected well offensively and defensively, and were pretty effective creating scoring opportunities through the ball patterns we were choosing.”

Cape defeated Dover 5-0 Oct. 10 behind a hat trick from Wells and single goals from fleet-footed forwards McCarthy and Nora Block. Block was also credited with two assists. 

Dover goalie Samantha Vera-Ramirez was credited with 20 saves.

Cape will play at Delmar at 4 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 17. 

The Wildcats are 11-1 on the season with their only loss at home to Smyrna 3-1.

Cape last won at Delmar in 2015.

“It’s always tough traveling to Delmar, but we have a few days to prepare this week and time to get on grass,” Austin said. “With three games to go, we’re looking to fine-tune and be tournament ready.”

Notes: Lina Frederick was the only varsity ninth-grader in 2021, as Macy Steinwedel was at Sussex Tech. There were 13 freshmen on the JV team in 2021, most of whom chose to not continue with hockey before reaching senior year. 

JV action: The Cape JV team defeated Padua 13-0 to improve to 11-0 on the season. The JV squad will close out the 2024 campaign at Delmar, a team they have previously beaten 6-0. JV goal scorers were Makenzie Todd, Blair Chubb and Leighton Swope each with two, and Mikaela Gordon, Teagan Baker, Emmilyn Swope, Layla Conn, Ella Levy, Angelina McCarthy and Haylor Crew with one each.