Vikings snipe Seahawks 2-0 in field hockey rivalry

Local adversaries Cape and Sussex Academy convened on the field hockey pitch in Georgetown Oct. 7, to resume their growing discourse on the matter.

The Vikings set the tone early and made it clear they would be the team possessing the ball. However, the Seahawks did not panic and worked to get in front instead of fouling, thus congesting things up the middle. Following a scoreless first half, Cape stuck with its initial game plan, but tweaked some things a bit.

“Using the ball and the width to stretch to the outside of the field was a big thing since they have strong players down the middle,” said Cape junior Atia Sabbagh. “Staying composed on the ball, not always forcing the ball forward, trying to be as urgent as we can and have good intensity overall.”

Despite possessing the ball, Cape only had a 7-4 edge in corners. With five minutes left in the third, Sabbagh made sure one of those corners counted. The junior took a few deep breaths and trusted her teammates to come through. Senior Norah Block did just that when she took a pass from Sabbagh shortly after the insert and banged the panels for the opening goal.

“It felt like all of our hard work was paying off,” Block said. “We were working really hard in the circle just to get that physical number on the board to represent the hard work that we were doing for each other.”

Cape coach Kate Austin noted the girls had been possessing the ball quite well as of late, but was hoping to get some more fruit from their labor.

“You don't score points for possessing the ball, and we do a really good job of controlling time of possession in a lot of the games that we play, but the game is to score, and we have to be able to crack that code,” Austin said. “Their goalie was standing on her head, and she was making really good saves, and their defense was playing really, really good defense inside of the circle. We just kept stressing the importance of being really active and moving that goalie and making her work really hard.”

Cape took 19 shots in the game. Sussex Academy senior Kacie Rawlings stopped 16 total shots. The Vikings’ defense held the Seahawks to just one shot in the backline battle.

“Kacie did have an incredible game,” said Seahawks coach Caitlyn Hardy.

Cape continued to ask questions of the Sussex Academy defense, while the Seahawks began earning penalty corners of their own. The escalating tension of whether the game would be tied or the Vikings would put away the insurance goal finally broke with just under 10 minutes to go in the final frame.

Sabbagh collected an insert from junior Grace Heers and launched a rocket into the Seahawks’ cage for the 2-0 lead. Sabbagh couldn’t hide her excitement as she unleashed a smile and was surrounded by her teammates following the crank.

To their credit, Sussex Academy did not fold, but the experienced Vikings did not concede, and Cape won its third straight shutout 2-0. The 10-1 Vikings have yet to concede a goal in any of their victories.

“We haven't seen that kind of play in a long time. Even the teams that were good upstate against us don't play like that,” Hardy said about Cape. “Our girls were composed. We changed a bunch of stuff on the field, so coming into it I knew it was going to be a good game.”

Hardy said she was proud of her team’s efforts against the team she used to protect the cage for.

“There's always a set respect on the field, and when we leave the field, both teams are still OK with the result either way,” Austin said.

“It really boosts our morale, it keeps us working as a team, and keeps us showing up every day on that field with high intensity coming to practice, wanting to play for each other,” Block said about the win. “Keeps us on a really high note coming into the end of our season.”