With the playoffs on the horizon, field hockey rolling right along following a 5-1 win over Bordentown on Thursday in Patriot play.
“Today, to show that we could be the better team, it was really nice to be confident and be able to control the flow of the game,” head coach Gina Quaranta said.
“A huge part of the game is controlling the ball. I know that our girls were excited about it being the last game of the season and at home.”
The Pirates finish the regular season 10-5-2 overall and 6-2-2 in the Patriot Division.
Bordentown is now 4-11-1 and 1-7-1 in the Patriot.
2016 marks the third consecutive season in which the Pirates won 10 or more games.
Cinnaminson is now 7-1-2 since a 3-0 loss to Rancocas Valley on September 26.
In three games played this week the Pirates have outscored their opponents, two within the Patriot, by a 16-4 total.
“We have really focused since we had a problem early in the season finishing the ball into the cage,” Quaranta said. “I’m happy it came to us over our final few games of the season.”
Cinnaminson opened the scoring when Carly Barnes finished a Maura Tumelty shot to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.
“Throughout the season I’ve been struggling to score goals,” Barnes said. “We practice corners all the time and it came into play this week.”
That lead would hold until there was a little over seven minutes left before halftime.
The Scotties tied the game at 1-1 with their only true scoring chance of the afternoon.
Emily Albrecht connected on a pass from Sydney Wieczkowski to knot the game at one apiece.
“We just needed to block up their hits because they have very strong hits,” Barnes said. “We knew going into it that they’re used to playing on turf and it would be different for them.”
The game remained tied at halftime, but it didn’t take long for the Pirates offense to explode in the second half.
Barnes opened the second half scoring with her second of the game.
“I feel as every practice we’re getting better as a team inside the circle,” Barnes said.
Tumelty then added two of her own before Serafina Kennedy capped the day with 2:05 left to make it a 5-1 game.
“This gives us a confidence booster and we know we can do anything together as a team,” Barnes said.
Field hockey has a bye in the first round of the Central, Group 1 Tournament.
The Pirates travel to Maple Shade next week for second round action at a date yet to be determined.
“I’m very excited to go back there,” Quaranta said. “I knew both times we played them we were ready to win those games.”
“I know that with a little fine tuning this week we will be able to come out in that round of the tournament.”
Follow Cinn City News for all the news stories in and around Cinnaminson, including exclusive coverage of Pirates sports at the high school and in-town levels. We are on Twitter and Facebook. Be sure to sign up for our daily newsletter on the homepage.
