The Pirates offense stayed hot on Tuesday in a 6-0 first round win for girl’s soccer against Lower Cape May.
“We had a good practice yesterday,” head coach Matt Digney said. “We try to keep things fresh and we put in one or two new theories of play that we want to build on over the next couple games. We were able to get our outside backs involved more, which is something we’ve been wanting to do.”
#1 Cinnaminson is now 17-2-1 on the year and will host a second round match on Friday at 2pm. #16 Lower Cape May ends the season 6-12.
The Pirates will host #9 Oakcrest, which took down #8 Cedar Creek 1-0 in their first round game Tuesday.
“I know a little about them from talking to other coaches,” Digney said of Oakcrest.
“They are going to have two or three players that have very good talent. As far as how deep they go, I’m not sure yet. If they get a goal in early they could be a tough team to play.”
In the Pirates opening-round win goals were scored early and often.
Cinnaminson got on the board less than four minutes into the match when Hailey Gutowski buried a shot from 25 yards out.
“Fortunately, we got an early goal, an early two goals,” Digney said. “A couple of our tougher results this year we played really well, but we didn’t score, so I was happy to get on the board early.”
The first goal wound up being all the Pirates would need as keeper Maddie Ogden did not have to make a save on the day.
The win is the Pirates 14th shutout of the season.
“We like to keep sharp. We’re going to have a hard practice tomorrow, so hopefully that’ll wake them up a little bit,” Digney said of the defense.
“We’ve played big games throughout the season so I’m comfortable and confident in saying they’ll be ready when they’re needed. We’re going to have to count on them to be successful later in this tournament.”
Alex Keck upped the lead to 2-0 with a goal on a corner kick that went in off the hands of the Tigers keeper, who tried to punch it up and over the crossbar.
Gutowski added her second with nine minutes before the half and Emma Karch made it a 4-0 lead with five minutes on the clock.
“She’s (Gutowski) been getting those clutch goals, getting that first goal with a hard shot,” Digney said.
“She and I discussed years ago that her shot needed to improve and she’s taken it to heart. She’s scoring goals from 25-30 yards out sometimes where goalies don’t have a chance.”
Gutowski opened the scoring in the second half with another impressive goal, her third of the game.
“I definitely became more confident on the ball by practicing my shots on my own time, which made me take more shots in the game,” Gutowski said. “My teammates set me up up top often, which is a big reason that I have been having this success too.”
Meredith Updike capped the scoring with just over 22 minutes left in the game with her first varsity goal.
Cinnaminson has won three in a row, all via shutout, by a combined score of 16-0.
Cinn City News will have coverage of the Pirates second round game on Friday afternoon. Be sure to follow along on Twitter for live updates.
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