Cape girls’ lax surges and sputters, beats Caesar Rodney 17-7
The Cape girls’ lacrosse team surged then sputtered April 24 at Champions Stadium, beating Caesar Rodney 17-7 to improve to 10-0.
The Riders, coached by 2012 Cape grad Gina Voss, were coming off impressive wins over Smyrna, Sussex Academy and Archmere. They dropped to 7-3 on the season.
Cape jumped out to an 8-3 first-quarter lead, but the game calmed down in the second period with the halftime score settled in at 9-4.
“We made some defensive adjustments after the first period and played Cape pretty tough after that,” Voss said. “We are improving and working toward the state tournament where we think we can make some noise. It’s been a while since Caesar Rodney was recognized as one of the best teams in the state.”
Cape is 16-0 versus the Riders going back to 2009 with a 310-51 goal differential. Cape looked great April 24, but not devastating. The Vikings turned the ball over 16 times, while Riders goalie Ava Brown went surge protector, making four point-blank saves when it looked like the Vikings were ready to rock down to electric avenue and run the clock with a 10-goal differential.
Anna Lopez, Cape’s goalie, who has faced Caesar Rodney the last four years, said, “We could see them in the state championship game. They are that good. I was not happy in the first quarter allowing them to score three times, but once I got my first save, I was locked in.”
Attack mates Lindsay D’Ambrogi and Claire Lopez were dialed in the entire game, each player with four goals. Lopez added three assists and D’Ambrogi tallied two.
Freshman lefty Haley Gamuciello had three goals, all assisted, while Mairead Rishko had two goals. Single-goal scorers for Cape were Lulu Rishko (two assists), Addy Basile, Carrie Clausius and Ally Diehl, who also had an assist.
The Riders were led in scoring by Delaney Miklus and Rylie Faircloth each with two goals. Single tallies came from Elle Roberts, Ella Brown and Ella Price.
Lyndsey Weller had two assists and Logan Fuchs registered one.
Cape will host a tough Ocean City, N.J., team at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, April 27, with a JV game to follow.
Cape beat the Ocean City Raiders 10-9 in 2023 and 16-8 in 2022. Ocean City is 6-1 this season.
The Riders host Ursuline (5-4) at 5:30 p.m., Friday, April 26.
Notes: Cape is the only undefeated team in Delaware, while Smyrna and Tatnall each have one loss. Caravel sits alone with two losses. Thirteen teams have three losses. The computer matrix will sort it all out prior to the state tournament. Saturday, May 11 is the last date of the regular season.
