Today we debut a new feature on the site called Gameday Focus and the inaugural Gameday Focus features girl’s lacrosse vs Moorestown Friends. The Gameday Focus will be an in-depth preview of the day’s game coverage, much like the playoff previews we have been publishing on the site this school year.
When: Monday, April 4 at 3:45pm.
Where: Cinnaminson
Coverage: Cinn City Sports on Twitter and Facebook. Full recap on Cinn City Sports Monday night.
Cinnaminson: 1-1
Moorestown Friends: 0-0
Moorestown Friends has yet to play a game this season, which could very well be an advantage for the Pirates, who have already played twice.
Cinnaminson comes into today’s game with a 1-1 record after a 14-4 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Friday morning. The Pirates lost their opener to Holy Cross 16-3.
These teams met once last season with the Pirates falling by a 15-14 score. Grace Shallow led the Pirates with six goals. The only returner from last year’s game who scored is Julia Averill. Averill netted four goals in the loss.
Moorestown Friends was led by Alexis Watson with five goals and Katy Repholz with four. Both players return for the 2016 season.
Even though these teams met last season it can be difficult to prepare year-to-year because of graduation. A host of players on Cinnaminson’s side who took part in the 2015 game graduated in June.
“We prepared for this game the same we do for every game, work on fixing the mistakes from the previous day, and improve on the concepts we’ve done well so far,” head coach Laura Curran said. “We will be prepared for them defensively as well as assuming they are returning their best player from last year.”
In the Pirates win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Friday the transition game was smooth and the defense caused a lot of turnovers. The offense also had an opportunity to work on some different plays because of the large lead through most of the second half.
“We really need to be prepared to be pressured more in transition and on offense,” Curran said. “Coming off a win on Friday against a team that allowed us to run through plays multiple times and work the ball easily in transition, we shouldn’t expect the same from Moorestown Friends. They’re a good program and I think our players know it will be a tough game for us.”
One thing the Pirates did particularly well on Friday was limit the number of turnovers committed. Turnovers led to a host of goals for the Lancers in the season opening loss to Holy Cross, but were nearly nonexistent against West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
“We need to limit the turnovers and posses the ball as much as possible,” Curran explained. “It’s been proven in both of our games so far that as long as we’re patient and really wait for those quality passes and opportunities, that we can be successful in scoring. We have to play a full 50 minutes and not let up until the final whistle.”
The game is scheduled to begin at 3:45pm today. Be sure to follow Cinn City Sports on Twitter for live updates throughout the game.
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