By LESLEY GRAHAM
The Ocean City Red Raiders field hockey team notched its sixth win of the season with a 9-0 defeat Wednesday over the visiting Spartans of Holy Spirit.
The win brings Ocean City’s record to 6-1, while Holy Spirit drops to 1-5.
Leading the scoring for the Raiders was Tara McNally with five goals on the evening. Fellow senior Sophia Ruh recorded a goal and two assists and Carly Hanin, Nya Gilchrist and Katie Bowman rounded out the goal scoring for Ocean City.
After not playing for a week due to a game postponement, the Red Raiders got off to a bit of slow, sloppy start, but were able to kick it into gear by the end of the first quarter, carrying that momentum into the second quarter of play. By the end of the first half, Ocean City was ahead 5-0, while Holy Spirit did not record a shot on goal.
As the second half got underway, Ocean City was able to keep momentum in their favor, adding an additional four goals in the final 30 minutes of play with three of them coming within three minutes of each other — two from the stick of McNally.
Ocean City Head Coach Kelsey (Mitchell) Burke was proud of how the team responded to some halftime adjustments as well as changes made in the fourth quarter.
“I was happy with how we changed the pace in the second quarter. We scored more goals and drew more corners and carried that into the second half,” Burke noted.
As the fourth quarter got underway, Burke was able to rest the starters and give her subs quality minutes.
“We were able to get some kids time in different positions and they responded well to the change. Sophomore Andi Helphenstine did a really great job in a spot she hadn’t played in before, so I was happy to see that,” Burke said.
Ocean City was able to add a game this coming Saturday against perennial power Shore Regional. Last year, the Raiders played Shore early on in the season, suffering a 1-0 defeat.
Burke expressed to her players the importance of taking every opportunity to prepare themselves for those types of games.
“I reminded them that no matter who we play we need to go hard to every ball, play clean defense and look for the open pass,” she said. “It’s on us to hold ourselves to that standard.”
