Field Hockey Advances to Third Round on Penalty Strokes

In one of the most exciting field hockey games ever played by the Pirates, Cinnaminson (10-5-3) outlasted Gloucester (11-5-2) in penalty strokes to advance to the third round of the Central, Group 1 Tournament.

Box Score

The Pirates dominated the first 50 minutes of the contest, leading 1-0 on a goal by Rebecca Shinn until there was 10:29 left in the second half. Gloucester’s Kyler Coughlin tied the game at one apiece off a corner.

“This is a game I will never forget,” head coach Gina Quaranta said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever played this long of a game. The girls were so on-point. They played our game. You could tell from warm-up they were excited to play.”

Both teams had chances late in the second half to win, but could not convert, as the game went into 7v7 overtime. After the first 10-minute period, and plenty of chances for the Pirates, the game went into a second 7v7 period.

“I was very excited at how we played in overtime games this season,” Quaranta said. “A lot of our opponents forced us into overtime, so we were really prepared for that.”

Following the second overtime, the Pirates and Gloucester moved to a best-of-five round of penalty strokes.

Gloucester struck first in the best-of-five, scoring on their second shot. From that point on, Pirates keeper Lauren Friedrich did not allow another goal.

“I was really nervous, but I had confidence in my team,” Friedrich said. “Deep down I knew we were going to win. They’ve (defense) have been amazing. This is my first year on varsity and I couldn’t ask for a better defense. They’ve been helping me out so much.”

Marissa Porrini tied the best-of-five with Cinnaminson’s fourth shot to keep the Pirates season alive. After all five shots were taken, the game moved to sudden death penalty strokes, with each team getting one shot apiece until a winner was determined.

It took four rounds of sudden death to determine the winner as Nikki Teague pushed her shot past Gloucester keeper Sara Deetz.

“It felt amazing,” Teague said. “It was the most high intensity situation I’ve ever been it. It was the greatest thing ever.”

All that was left was for Friedrich to make another stellar save, which she did, to preserve the victory for the Pirates field hockey team.

“I am not surprised. She is a dynamite goalkeeper,” Quaranta said. “She is a fantastic, overall athlete, physically and mentally. I’m so happy she became a goalkeeper because you have to be a mentally tough person and athlete to play that position. I know that she wants it just as bad as I do 100 percent of the time.”

Friedrich saved seven consecutive penalty strokes across two rounds on Friday.

“I knew Lauren could do it.” Teague said. “She’s done it a thousand times in practice. I’m proud of her.”

Field hockey takes on 1-seed Haddonfield on Tuesday, November 3 at 3:30pm for the third round of the Central, Group 1 Tournament.

“This season we had a lot of tough opponents because we play in a tough division,” Quaranta said. “They are ready to come out against a really tough team. They are not going to let up. We have been 100 percent getting ready for this for as long as I can remember. We are ready to move up to the next level.”