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Cape hockey rolls through play days shaking it down for the real season

Vikings shaping up for another title defense
Dave Frederick
August 24, 2015
Cape senior Sydney Ostroski watches her shot go past the St. Georges goalkeeper. Seventeen varsity and eight junior varsity teams competed in the annual event at Cape Henlopen's athletic complex. BY DAN COOK
Delaware 2014 Player of the Year Tess Bernheimer slams a shot in the scrimmage with Pocomoke. BY DAN COOK
Vikings freshman Alia Marshall speeds the ball past a Pocomoke defender. BY DAN COOK
Sophomore Annie Judge clears the ball from the Vikings' defensive end. BY DAN COOK
Cape senior Maddie Irwin strips the ball from a Wooten defender in front of the Patriots' bench. BY DAN COOK
Senior Erin Coverdale, left, controls play in the midfield. BY DAN COOK
Cape senior Carly Dmiterchik clears the ball past a Pocomoke forward. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Lizzie Frederick rips a shot on goal. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Erin Coverdale blocks a Pocomoke pass. BY DAN COOK
Cape senior Tess Bernheimer moves in for the kill shot in the scrimmage with St. Georges. BY DAN COOK
Cape's Anna Steiner passes the ball upfield in the scrimmage with Delmar. BY DAN COOK

Football doesn’t have play days - it has something to do with strong and fast people colliding into each other going in opposite directions.

Soccer, lacrosse and field hockey are all about the play days, which involve multiple teams and fields all games starting and ending on a common horn. Play days are defined as low-pressure competitions where the objective is to learn about your own team and not necessarily gear up for winning games.

Cape’s play day Aug. 22 saw 17 teams and almost as many junior varsity squads play 25-minute games from 8:30 to 3:30. The Cape varsity team played six games with a 25-person roster, including three goalies that mixed and matched for an entire day.

Cape is working on depth on defense along with breaking in a new goalie -Riley Shields led the way - and finding enough frontline players to replace 11 seniors including leading scorer Sam Broadhurst, Marlee McGinness, now on the roster at Towson, and Amanda Atkinson, a force on the midfield line.

“I saw good things, especially passing and stick skills," said head coach Kate Austin. "But we need to work on tackling, marking and communicating so we are better prepared for next week’s play day."

Austin said she was pleased with corners, where Cape scored three times in spite of not practicing corners in the first week.

Cape will host an eight-team play day Saturday, Aug. 29, beginning at 9 a.m., and will field two separate teams to get more work.

Teams for the Aug. 29 play day include Cape Blue, Cape Gold, Caravel, Conrad, Hodgson, Kent Island, Smyrna and St. Thomas More.

This format will be steady field hockey with few breaks from 9 a.m to 1:15 p.m.

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