The Red Devils ended the Pirates three-game win streak on Thursday with a 4-1 victory in a Liberty Division clash.
Cinnaminson falls to 5-6-1 overall and 4-5 in the Liberty.
Rancocas Valley is now 11-2 overall and 8-1 in the Liberty. The Red Devils have won seven in a row.
“For a game that had a lot of implications for us, having an outside chance of having a home game in the first round of the playoffs, that was a lot of points we could have won today,” head coach Jason Meile said.
The Red Devils wasted no time getting on the board Thursday, scoring just 37 seconds into the match.
Rancocas Valley would add two more goals before halftime, taking a 3-0 lead over the Pirates into the break.
The Pirates came out of the half with a purpose, scoring their lone goal of the game less than five minutes into play.
Mike Lutz found Jarrod Averill in front of the net with a nice pass and Averill did the rest.
The score cut the Red Devils lead to 3-1 before Rancocas Valley tacked on its fourth and final goal with just under 20 minutes remaining in the match.
Despite the goal allowed in the second half and the loss, the Pirates played a much better game in the second half today.
“The kids did not respond today until it was 3-0,” Meile said. “The way they played in the second half was much better. That’s what we were preaching yesterday in practice. Unfortunately, you can’t give a team like that a 3-0 lead.”
Meile spoke about what went right for the Pirates in their three-game win streak coming into today’s match with Rancocas Valley.
“When you get a little confidence, you become a little more dangerous. We were definitely playing with more confidence the last couple games,” Meile said.
“Some of the guys were taking on their roles on the team. Initially, everybody has the mindset that they want to be the star. Not everybody can be the star. I’d love to have a team of 11 stars, but in reality, it doesn’t happen.”
The Pirates return to the pitch on Saturday with a 10am home game against Holy Cross.
“Tomorrow we’ve got to get prepared for another neighboring rival in Holy Cross,” Meile said.
“They are a very physical team and we’ve got to do what we’ve been doing the last week and a half and the second half today.”
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