Cape and Delmarva Christian tune up for regular season
Local rivals Delmarva Christian and Cape Henlopen got their girls’ soccer teams together on the pitch inside Legends Stadium March 14 to put the finishing touches on their respective preseasons.
Cape, led by its eight seniors and sophomore standout Ava Brown, came away with a 3-1 victory, but the Royals have plenty to hang their hat on.
“I feel like we grew throughout the match, which was good,” Cape coach Patrick Kilby said. “We made some tweaks at halftime, but we’re trying to navigate our center back situation. I think we have our fix.”
Offensively, it was Brown leading the charge with two goals, while junior Nevaeh Landis netted the third goal. Kilby believes they could have had more.
“We have to start faster,” he said. “And we have to start in rhythm with fluency, being more consistent throughout the match. It’s a game of percentages. We created a lot of opportunities, but we didn’t finish enough.”
According to Kilby, Brown will be someone to lean on, but he thinks the supporting cast can do a bit more. He praised the efforts of Landis, Jaidyn Jones and Ava Dolan on the second unit.
“The supporting cast in the reserve area really showed well in the second half in the attacking third, but we’re really relying on Emily Cook, Ava Brown and Shannon Rath to get those points for us,” Kilby said.
While the Royals suffered a defeat, they showed early they could hang with a Division I program like Cape, as junior Megan Yoder’s goal kept things tied at 1-1 for several nail-biting minutes.
“Anytime you get a score against a team like Cape who has got a lot of talent here with these young ladies ... it makes you feel good,” Delmarva Christian coach Curtis Jones said.
In addition to Yoder’s goal, the Royals got a huge boost from the play of senior goalie Journey Handy.
“Journey stepped up in a big way last year,” Jones said. “She was our backup goalie and stepped in after our main goalie had a torn knee. She’s looking strong and looking like she’s ready to make another run as our starter.”
Included in Handy’s clutch saves were a nearly can’t-miss shot she stopped with her foot and a blast from about eight yards away from the talented Brown.
The Royals came close to taking the lead or tying the game on a couple of odd rushes, but they just couldn’t break through. Jones believes his team is in a good place.
“From our standpoint, we did pretty well,” Brown said. “Honestly, anytime I can do a scrimmage and have no injuries is a big win.”
Cape opens the season at Sussex Academy Monday, March 18, while Delmarva Christian travels to Early College School at Delaware State University March 18.
