Seahawks soccer screeches past Cape 5-1
A golden sunset framed the Sussex Academy girls’ soccer team March 23 as they started out hot and stayed hot, running past the Vikings 5-1 in Cape’s Champions Stadium.
The Seahawks held a 21-8 shot advantage.
First-half goals were scored by Seahawks Sienna Serpico, Natalie Roblero Chavez and Maya Hastings. The second-half scores came from Johanna Chavez-Niz and Tayler Flaherty. Assists were credited to Catherine Brown (2), Flaherty and Carmen Merrick.
Cape’s lone tally came from Morgan Schubert unassisted in the second half.
Vikings goalkeepers Brianna Burrell and Kiersten Smith teamed for eight saves while Sussex Academy keeper Grace Fiorilla stopped seven Cape scoring attempts.
“We have a special group of girls this year,” said Seahawks head coach RJ Dina. “Great technical ability mixed with a high IQ for the game. We focus a lot in training on moving the ball quickly to dictate the opponents’ shape. Our girls have tremendous technical and tactical ability. This game was evident in how speed of play can break down a team. I’m proud of this group. In a big-rivalry matchup, these girls came out hungry and focused. Tayler Flaherty was outstanding tonight. For around 60 minutes, she was nonstop creating and connecting passes, defending when needed. Her goal was pure muscle and hard work. She earned it, and my praise for effort and leadership. Our mindset going in was to be first in everything. It was a massive team effort. We’ll celebrate today and move on to Tech.”
“It’s disappointing to lose to a crosstown rival once again,” said Cape head coach Patrick Kilby. “But we learned a lot about ourself as a team in a high-pressure situation that did not go our way. Part of the conversation I had with the girls was that this loss could either be a blip on the radar or a trend throughout the season. They all agreed they want it to be a blip on the radar, and that we want to get better and compete against teams that are high quality. They are fortunate that we get to compete against Indian River on Tuesday, a quick turnaround against another quality team. This will be a great test to see if we have improved our mindset and application of training sessions that prepare us for match play.”
The Vikings will travel to IR Tuesday, March 28, while the Seahawks host Sussex Tech.
