By LESLEY GRAHAM
The Ocean City girls soccer team rolled to a 3-0 victory over visiting Delsea on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the South Jersey Coaches Association Tournament.
The win brings Ocean CIty’s record to 16-1. Delsea drops to 12-4-1 on the season.
The Red Raiders, who just won the Cape Atlantic League title this past week, is the No. 2 seed in the South Jersey Coaches Tournament.
Scoring for the Raiders were senior Summer Reimet with two goals and fellow senior Hope Slimmer with one goal and an assist. Naomi Nnewihe and Coryn McDonnell each had an assist for Ocean City.
Ocean City jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a ball off the foot of Reimet with 17 minutes remaining in the first half.
There was a lot of back and forth action as the minutes waned in the first half, with Ocean City struggling to connect passes and get quality offensive looks on net.
The Raiders would take a 1-0 lead into halftime, where Head Coach Lisa Cuneo addressed her team and discussed some adjustments that needed to be made.
“Delsea sometimes had at least four back so we just needed to navigate through it and take the extra minutes to find the openings,” Cuneo said post game.
As the second half got underway, the Red Raiders appeared to be in more control of the game, playing a crisper and cleaner game where they were able to connect on the final pass to find the quality shot on goal.
Reimet scored her second goal of the game on a corner kick early in the second half. Less than 10 minutes later, Slimmer found the back of the net on a beautiful outside shot.
After the game, Cuneo said she was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I was happy with our time of possession and a lot of our combinations, but we can always do better with the final pass or finish,” she said.
As playoffs approach, the Red Raiders are using these opportunities to prepare for the postseason.
“We are playing these games with a playoff mindset,” she said. “We value this tournament and the opponents it allows us to play against.”
Ocean City will face Clearview Monday at home at 2 p.m. in the next round of the South Jersey Coaches Tournament.
“We are looking forward to our next round game, where we need to continue to keep the bar set high and not settle for anything less,” Cuneo said.
