A five game unbeaten streak, three wins and two ties, could not help the Pirates field hockey team in their efforts to beat Holy Cross for a second time this season on Wednesday. The Lancers came to town with revenge on their minds and returned to Delran with a 2-0 victory over Cinnaminson.
“Their best intensity wasn’t here today,” head coach Gina Quaranta said. “Holy Cross did a nice job with their intensity, stepping up to the ball, finding their key players and key options. We were not there to fire back and play our game.”
The first half was about as even as the game could get in terms of play from either side. Both teams had the ball for extended periods in each other’s zone, but could not convert chances into goals.
“We had a nice thrust of keeping the ball in our offensive end for maybe five minutes and it was feeling good,” Quaranta said. “I think everyone was feeling confident, but it was more of a relaxed confidence. We need to take advantage of our opportunities, whenever they come. We can’t sit back. I think that was a lesson we learned today. It was nice to be evenly matched at the beginning, giving ourselves some opportunities, but to not capitalize on them hurt us in the end.”
The game remained scoreless at the break, but Holy Cross (6-2-1, 4-2) didn’t waste too much time finding the back of the cage in the second half. With 19:56 left in regulation, the Lancers scored the game’s first goal, which would be their eventual game winner.
The Pirates (5-2-2, 3-2-1) did their best to get scoring chances to tie the game, but had trouble getting the ball past midfield as the Lancers defense clamped down.
With just one minute remaining in the game, the Lancers added their second goal, icing the game for their sixth victory of the season.
The Holy Cross goals were scored by Tatum Dougherty and Melanie Nicodemo. Goalie Michelle Brencher made four saves. Pirates goalie Lauren Friedrich made seven saves in the loss.
Today’s 2-0 loss marked the third time this season the Pirates have been shutout, two in regulation losses and one in a scoreless tie with Pemberton.
Pirates field hockey returns to the field on Friday, October 2 at 3:45pm when Delran visits. The Pirates dropped their first meeting of the season with the Bears 3-0. Delran is 6-2-1 on the season and 5-0 in the conference.
“It’s always tough moving forward after a hard loss, but tomorrow will be a new day,” Quaranta said. “We’ll have a very focused practice so that we can work on the things that were not there today. We will also looks towards what we could have done better last time against Delran, coming out for another hard game.”
