Girl’s soccer opened the 2015 season with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Northern Burlington in overtime last week. They played another thriller on Thursday despite a 3-2 loss to Moorestown at home.
The Pirates and Quakers traded chances early in the game Thursday, but it remained scoreless until there was a little over 17 minutes left. Moorestown opened the scoring at 17:06 on a questionable call that yielded a penalty kick.
The Quakers would add a second goal at 11:05 and take a 2-0 lead into halftime.
“Their second goal, we had a girl slip,” head coach Matt Digney said. “They did a good job of getting down on us and getting the ball in the net. I thought we had the play, which doesn’t mean much. We didn’t have the goals.”
The second half was a different game. The Pirates dominated play for the majority of the half, scoring twice in less than five minutes to tie the game. Coach Digney was pleased with how his girls responded in the second stanza to tie the contest.
“The second half, we played really hard. Really, really hard. Smart. We got back to what we like to do as far as what we try to do at practice. Got ourselves two goals. Thought we were pressing pretty hard.”
The Pirates first goal came at 25:20 when Jamie McHugh outmuscled a defender and scorched it past the goalie. Then, at 21:07, Miranda Sackner tied the contest at two with a beauty of a goal. Sackner blew through the Quakers defense and put it out of reach of their goalie to pull the Pirates into a 2-2 tie with the Quakers.
When asked about the Pirates dominating second half play, Digney said, “We didn’t make any strategic changes. We just pumped each other up and they responded.”
The game would remain tied at two until there was 5:31 left. Moorestown, finally getting extended play in the Pirates zone in the second half, was able to take advantage of a scrum in front of the net and score the eventual game winning goal.
Goalie Marisa DiLeo came out to make the save, but couldn’t control the ball and it trickled into the net.
Coach Digney explained what happened in the first half to keep the Pirates off the board.
“They got us. We weren’t in what we’re used to doing. They have a deep drop sweeper. I said if we play balls in she is going to sweep them right out and we were doing that. I felt like we had the play, but wouldn’t finish in the final third of the play. I wish we did a better job on that; getting the sweeper out of the middle of the field. The second half, the sweeper barely touched the ball because we did a better job going around her, rather than trying to go through her.”
The Pirates had a couple of chances late to tie, but none as strong as their two goals earlier in the half.
“This game won’t break us. If anything, it probably makes us better. It let’s us be aware that we can score two goals against a good Moorestown team in a matter of minutes. There’s a lot of positives to be taken away from this. Defensively, we have to clean up those mistakes and see if we do a better job the next time.”
The next time Cinnaminson takes the field will be this coming Tuesday, September 22 at 3:45pm for a game against Burlington Township on the road.
[…] Girl’s soccer returns to the field on Tuesday, October 13 at 3:45pm with an away game against Moorestown. The Pirates lost this year’s first meeting with the Quakers, 3-2. […]
[…] Soccer: The Pirates played only one game this week, a 3-2 hard-fought loss at home to Moorestown. Goals were scored by Jamie McHugh and Miranda Sackner, who take home the honor this week for […]