Girl’s Soccer Advances with 7-0 Win Over Pemberton

Meeting for the second time in 10 days, Pemberton visited Cinnaminson in the first round of the South, Group 2 girl’s soccer tournament. The Pirates took down the Hornets 4-0 just 10 days ago and picked up another shutout on Monday, 7-0, to advance to the second round.

“We started working on our first touches and getting the ball around easier,” Miranda Sackner (three goals) said of practice between the regular season finale and today. “We kept it simple.”

Box Score

Sackner recorded her third hat trick of the season in the rout and second against Pemberton this season. She leads the team with 18 goals.

“We talked about the second season,” head coach Matt Digney said. “At this point of the game, there’s no more second chances. We went over the little things that add up during a game and things we need to do better.”

“I thought the girls looked pretty sharp today. We match up well against this team, but looking ahead, we know it’s not going to be quite as easy as it was today.”

Cinnaminson moves to 11-5-2 and Pemberton falls to 9-11-1 to finish the 2015 season.

The Pirates have now scored seven goals in back-to-back games, allowing just one goal against, and have outscored their opponents 54-21. Today’s shutout was the sixth of the season for the Pirates. Keepers Marisa DiLeo and Maddie Ogden each played a half.

“As we progress, I think we’ve done so much better offensively, like getting the ball up and keeping it moving,” Sackner said. “I think we’ve done a really good job and makes us more dangerous. It’s helping us a lot.”

It did not take long for the Pirates to strike as Hailey Gutowksi found the back of the net less than two minutes into the contest. The Pirates scored the game’s first three goals within the first 10 minutes of play as Sackner scored her first and Gutowski followed with her second.

Casey Joyce and Kelly Kane would make it 5-0 in favor of Cinnaminson before halftime. Kane’s goal was her first for varsity.

“At anytime, someone on our team could be playing, depending on the situation and what’s going on,” Digney said. “It doesn’t have to be a 7-0 game. It could be a 1-0 game, but the situation calls for a certain type of player. It’s good to get them that experience, get the nervousness out and get them ready to play.”

Coming out of the break, it took less than two minutes for Sackner to add her second. She would complete the hat trick less than four minutes into the second half to cap the scoring for the Pirates in the blowout victory.

“It’s funny how things happen, whether you have injuries or whatnot,” Digney said. “People have to step up and they do a good job. What that does is, when we get ourselves into a situation like the playoffs, when you get an injury you can work through it. It’s funny how things happen to work out in the end.”

#3 Cinnaminson advances to the second round, which will be played at home on Thursday, November 5 at 2pm against #6 Middle Township. #6 Middle Township (15-2-1) took down #11 Barnegat 1-0 on Monday.

“I know traditionally, Middle Township is always a very strong soccer program,” Digney said. “They’ve always done a good job making postseason runs. I think we are pretty battle tested playing the Moorestown’s, Delran’s and Holy Cross’ twice a year. I feel pretty good going into the game Thursday.”

Cinn City Sports will have coverage of the girl’s soccer second round game against Middle Township Thursday beginning at 12pm. Follow us on Twitter for live updates.