For the third game in a row to start the season the girl’s lacrosse team played at home on Monday, coming away with a 12-9 win over Moorestown Friends as lacrosse wins second straight.
“We’re doing a lot better. We’re working a lot better together than we did in our first game,” Julia Averill said. “We’re looking more towards cutting instead of just driving. We’re hitting the middle a lot more.”
The Pirates are now 2-1 on the season and host New Egypt on Wednesday for a fourth straight game at home to open the 2016 season.
“I think that this being our third game, even though it is early in the season, we’ve been able to identify our weaknesses and fix the problems in practice,” head coach Laura Curran said. “Today we just moved the ball much better than we did in the first game. As the transition continues to get better it will result in goals.”
Moorestown Friends opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, but the Pirates did not trail long as Averill answered with her first of four on the day just minutes later.
Moorestown Friends would build a 3-1 lead before Alexa Parrish and Jenna Mullin scored consecutive goals to pull within one and then tie the game at 3-3.
After going down 4-3 the Pirates scored three in a row to take a 6-4, their first of the day, as Parrish, Lexi Colella and Averill netted goals.
Moorestown Friends scored two straight late in the first half to tie the game at 6-6, but Katie O’Connor scored her first of two on the day to give the Pirates a 7-6 lead at the break.
The Pirates did not relinquish their halftime lead.
“Defensively, we were prepared in making sure that the help defense was there,” Curran said. “When we have that kind of defense and we can rely on pulling a girl out and the rest of the six being able to maintain good defense and stop the rest of the attack, that’s going to work out in our best interest.”
To open the second half the Pirates scored two straight goals from Averill to make it a 9-6 game. The Pirates largest lead of the day was four goals at 11-7 and 12-8.
“The middle of the second half Moorestown Friends was picking up on what we were trying to do offensively, so we were able to switch it to another offense,” Curran said.
“If we can continue to do that against teams; wear them down for a good 25 minutes and it’ll result in goals, that’s really what’s important. We were very patient on offense and it worked out well for us.”
The Pirates built their four-goal leads using excellent ball movement.
“Our transition; we’ve been doing a lot of transition drills in practice,” Averill said. “We’ve practiced having a lot of girls swarm on you when you’re in the midfield and you’re running it down. It forces you to pass the ball more. It gets the ball down faster on offense and more opportunities to score.”
After Moorestown Friends scored to make it a 12-9 game with 2:42 left Cinnaminson was able to run out the clock for the Pirates second victory of the year.
“We have to keep the momentum going,” Averill said. “We have to continue transitioning well and looking towards the middle for open cutters. We need to capitalize on all the opportunities we have.”
Girl’s lacrosse returns to the field on Wednesday, April 6 at 3:45pm when they host New Egypt.
“Our saying this year is “Light the fire” and right now it’s lit,” Curran said. “New Egypt is our second division game of the year and knowing we already lost a division game we really need to come out with a win. As long as we continue to do the things we’ve been doing well, possessing the ball and being patient, then I think we’ll come out with a win.”
Pirates Goals:
Julia Averill – 4
Alexa Parrish – 2
Jenna Mullin – 2
Lexi Colella – 2
Katie O’Connor – 2
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