Delran Field Hockey Stuns Pirates with Last-Second Goal

In a much-anticipated rematch, Pirates field hockey hosted Delran on Wednesday afternoon, but fell in dramatic fashion to the Bears 1-0 on a last-second goal.

Cinnaminson (10-4-2, 5-4-1) and Delran (11-4-1, 8-1) last played on September 16, with the Bears coming away with a 3-0 victory.

Box Score

In what was a defensive battle, the Pirates could not solve Delran’s defense to push a goal through for two entire halves.

“They played hard today,” head coach Gina Quaranta said of her team. “They played well. We had a lot of defensive pressure and Delran did a nice job of blocking up our 16-yard hits coming out. It was a very big defensive game.”

“Luckily, sometimes throughout, changing our routes, we were able to work it up the sidelines. Try to follow our gameplan as much as possible, but we couldn’t net one, unfortunately, to finish the game.”

It looked as though the game was headed to overtime, but Delran’s Rebecca Howard had a different plan.

Howard stole the ball around the Pirates 25 and moved in all alone on keeper Lauren Friedrich after beating the Pirates defense.

Howard deposited a shot into the back of the cage with just two seconds left in regulation to win the game for the Bears and the BCSL Patriot title in field hockey.

It was a back and forth affair in this one and really a tale of two halves. Delran dominated play in the first half, getting multiple scoring chances, but the Pirates defense and Friedrich made sure the game stayed scoreless at the break.

“She (Friedrich) has done an amazing job this year,” Quaranta said. “She did an amazing job today. Almost with the shutout. Last play of the game. It wasn’t just her. They got through 10 of us first and then had to get to her. Unfortunate for that last play, but she did have an awesome game today.”

In the second half, the Pirates offense dominated, playing a large portion of the half in the Delran defensive end. The Pirates just could not convert any of their corners or other scoring chances into goals.

The Pirates had a couple of opportunities with under five minutes remaining to score the game’s first goal, but could not convert. The defense then stopped two shots from Delran before the Bears scored the eventual game winner.

With the postseason right around the corner, Quaranta offered her thoughts on her team’s final games this week in preparation for the playoffs.

“We have mentioning it during the season about what it will mean to get to the postseason, to the playoffs,” Quaranta said. “It’s basically like a new season once our regular season is over. We will have to start with a new excitement. It’s a really fun time. It’ll be good to have a challenging game against R.V. this Friday to get us ready to go into postseason next week.”

Field hockey returns to the field on Friday, October 23 to take on Rancocas Valley at 3:45pm in the regular season finale.

“They’re going to be a tough team,” Quaranta said. “They’re having a really good season. They always bring really good heart, hustle and skills to the field. It will be a good challenge for us, but that will definitely be something I look forward to going into the postseason.”

Cinn City Sports will have coverage of the regular season finale against Rancocas Valley. Follow us on Twitter for live updates.