Cape soccer drops close 4-3 game to the Indians

The Cape versus Indian River game has been a classic matchup in the Henlopen Conference in recent years, pitting two of the premier teams in the state and father against son, as Cape coach Patrick Kilby’s father Steve commands the helm of the Indians. This time the father captured bragging rights at the holiday table with a 4-3 win over the Vikings on Oct. 22.

The game started off like it was a normal Cape/IR contest. Indian River’s Jared Cordoba drew first blood at the 15:09 mark off a pass from Jhony Ortiz Velasquez. Cape’s Juan Carillo tied the game just three minutes later from Kannex Camarco. Camarco then scored off a direct kick to break the 1-1 tie at 35:24.

Indian River junior Yves Graf scored twice just before halftime to give the Indians the 3-2 lead off assists from Juan Linares and Luke McCabe.

Graf got the hat trick at 47:05 to give the Indians a two-goal cushion, but the Vikings would not go away, as Bibi Rodriguez scored at 73:13 from a Dane Palmer pass.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said Cape coach Patrick Kilby. “It was a very winnable game for us, but we made too many mistakes. We cannot afford to work so hard to regain the lead with five minutes left in the first half only to give up two goals before halftime.”

The Indians outshot the Vikings 18-8 and held a slight 4-3 edge in penalty corners.

Cape junior goalie Alan Marin-Quiroz stopped eight shots, while IR keeper Zachary Neal had seven saves.

“We have yet to perform well in a high-stakes game this season,” Kilby said. “We need to break the trend and put a full match together next week versus Charter.”

The 11-2-1 Vikings will host Charter on Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Legends Stadium.