Following a 16-3 loss to Holy Cross to open the 2016 season on Wednesday the Pirates made sure they evened their record at 1-1 today with West Windsor-Plainsboro South (WWPS) in town. It was a solid effort for a full 50 minutes as girl’s lacrosse dominates from start to finish in a 14-4 rout.
“It’s important to have a win, especially going into a three-game week next week, but it was more important to fix the mistakes from Wednesday,” head coach Laura Curran said.
“We felt more comfortable with the ball. Our transition looked better. We didn’t have nearly as many turnovers. We were able to make good, quality passes in transition.”
It didn’t take long for Cinnaminson to get on the board as Casey Joyce opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the contest with her second of the season. The Pirates never trailed, nor did they let WWPS tie the game en route to the victory.
“We were very confident in our 1v1 defense today,” Curran said. “We were able to shut down a lot of drives. Our slides were there and a lot of times our 1v1 positioning ended up in caused turnovers.”
Five different girls scored for the Pirates, four of them with multiple goals. Jenna Mullin and Joyce each netted four goals, Julia Averill added three, Lexi Colella two and Katie O’Connor had one.
“In the Holy Cross game we played well in the first 20 minutes,” Mullin said. “Today we focused on playing better past the first 20 minutes.”
Cinnaminson led 3-0 before WWPS got on the board and upped the lead to 6-1 by halftime. Joyce scored three of her four goals in the first half.
“A lot of our plays are designed to wear down the defense; they’re not quick-goal plays,” Curran said. “The way that we were able to continually run the offense, it actually did wear down the defense and we were able to find the holes in their defense and capitalize on goals.”
The Pirates opened the scoring in the second half with two straight to make it 8-1 on goals from Colella and Mullin. WWPS added its second goal before Cinnaminson scored two more.
“I think we communicated a lot better today. We were a little iffy first game, a little nervous,” Mullin said. “We worked the ball really well today, switching fields and getting it down to their end.”
With an 11-4 lead, the Pirates scored the final three goals of the game as Averill, Colella and Mullin all found the net again as the Pirates worked on some offensive plays.
“We run plays against our own defense, but after a while they start to read the play and it doesn’t work as well,” Curran said. “In a situation where we have a big lead, we can really practice the plays, practice our offense. In our three-game week next week we will hopefully feel more comfortable running our offense.”
The Pirates defense was strong today, allowing just four goals and causing quite a few turnovers.
“We definitely have to be really confident to help Emily (Brennan) out,” Hope Addlesberger said. “We have to protect the goal.”
“We focused a lot on crease rolls and slides. If someone gets doubled, you have to make sure that the slide is there so you can help them out so there’s no cutters going into the middle.”
Cinnaminson returns to action on Monday at home against Moorestown Friends at 3:45pm.
“Possession will be key for the entire year. Possessing the ball out of the defensive end into the offensive end,” Curran said. “Be smart, be patient. The opportunities will be there. We can’t make silly passes that will result in turnovers. Possession is going to be key going forward.”
Follow Cinn City Sports on Twitter for news, scores and live updates from games throughout each season. Like Cinn City Sports on Facebook. Sign-up for our daily newsletter, which arrives daily at 8am with the previous day’s stories, on the homepage.
