The two seeded Ocean City Red Raiders defeated the three seeded Seneca Golden Eagles Monday afternoon 17-13 in the Group Three semifinal game.
Despite getting off to a slow start and trailing the visiting Golden Eagles 5-1 in the opening minutes of play, Ocean City starting chipping away one by one to close the gap.
Ocean City went on a 3-0 run, prompting a time out by the visiting Golden Eagles. Ocean City didn’t let that stop their momentum though, and quickly scored again.
The Red Raiders struggled in the opening half to win the draw control but called a timeout and made some adjustments. Head Coach Alyssa Morrison stated “We put Molly Reardon on the the circle to get in and fight for the ground ball.” With that change, Ocean City was able to start winning some possessions and then using the ensuing offensive possession to move the ball, work for a quality shot and ultimately put the ball in the back of the net.
With under five minutes to play it was all tied up at seven goals a piece. Seneca found the back of the next with 1:17 on the clock but Ocean City answered right back to knot the score at either going into halftime.
Coming out of the halftime break, each team chipped in a goal with 20 minutes to play remaining in the semifinal game. Ocean City then scored four unanswered goals, including one on a man up penalty stretching their lead 13-9. Once Ocean City took the lead, they never looked back. To once again attempt to halt the Red Raiders momentum, Seneca quickly called a timeout, but once again Ocean City came out firing, scoring quickly.
With six minutes to play Ocean City held a 17-11 lead. Seneca attempted to mount a comeback, scoring twice more before Ocean City was able to run out the clock through precision passing and taking care of the ball. The Red Raiders would finish the game 17-13.
Morrison was proud of her team’s effort and is looking forward to the match up versus Moorestown in the final. “We have nothing to lose in the game versus Moorestown and everything to gain,” said Morrison.
Ocean City will face top seeded Moorestown High School on Thursday in the Group Three final at Moorestown High School.
