By LESLEY GRAHAM
Ocean City High School’s field hockey team launched an offensive onslaught against the visiting Mainland Mustangs, winning 11-1 on Saturday.
The win raises Ocean City’s record to 8-2, while Mainland drops to 5-4.
Six different Ocean City players recorded a goal in the game, with an additional three Red Raiders adding an assist. Tara McNally led the scoring, tallying four goals and one assist. On the defensive end, Norah Bridgeford had five saves in goal.
It didn’t take Ocean City long to score, needing only 50 seconds to chip in its first goal of the contest on a corner penalty. Senior captain Nya Gilchrist got Ocean City on the scoreboard first, on an assist from junior captain Olivia Vanesko.
The Red Raiders would add two more goals in the first quarter, with Alexis Smallwood and Tara McNally both scoring for Ocean City.
As the second quarter began, Ocean City once again needed less than a minute to add to its lead as McNally scored her second goal. McNally would score the next two for the Red Raiders as well, taking Ocean City into the third quarter with a 6-0 lead.
Carly Hanin, a junior forward, would score next for the Red Raiders. Mainland would then find the back of the goal off a corner penalty with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Ocean City would answer right back on a second Hanin goal less than a minute later.
Ocean City would end the final quarter by adding three more goals, two by junior Racheli Levy-Smith and the other by sophomore Ella Brogan with less than two minutes to play.
Red Raider Head Coach Kelsey Burke was happy with how her team played.
“We talked about trying to start with a higher intensity right out the gate, and we did that today,” Burke said.
Ocean City has two remaining regular season games left and then it is on to the playoffs for the Red Raiders.
“We still have two regular season games to go before playoffs and we are continuing to take it one game at a time,” Burke said.
The Red Raiders, seeded first in the Southeast A region of the NJSIAA playoffs, received a bye in the first round and will take on the winner of the Atlantic City-Lower Cape May game. Ocean City has already faced Atlantic City and Lower Cape May in the regular season and beat them both.
