Fuentes nets hat trick in St. Georges win

Jackie Fuentes scored three goals as St. Georges topped Delmar 3-1 in the opening round of the DIAA Division II Girls Soccer Tournament on Saturday.

MILFORD – Three minutes into its first-round game in the DIAA Division II Girls Soccer Tournament, St. Georges fell behind.

But the Hawks quickly found an equalizer, and Jackie Fuentes went on to earn a hat trick as St. Georges overcame Delmar 3-1 on Saturday at Briggs Stadium.

The 10th-seeded Hawks (11-4-1) advanced to play No. 2 Caravel in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, at a site and time to be determined.

Seventh-seeded Delmar (10-6) got off to a flying start, as a strong 45-yard free kick by Brittany Knapp slipped away from St. Georges keeper Morgan Mitchell and trickled across the line in the third minute.

“Unlucky. Freshman goalkeeper, it’s wet,” Hawks coach Bonnie Mills said. “I knew she would bounce back. I knew we would bounce back. It was just a matter of us calming down, possessing the ball.”

St. Georges tied it just five minutes later, as Fuentes made the most of a sharp assist.

“Britney Stewart sent a through ball and I just ran into it,” Fuentes said. “I had to cross it in, so I just crossed it in and it went in.”

It stayed that way until two minutes into the second half, when Mitchell earned a rare assist by a goalkeeper. The freshman rocketed a goal kick that rode a stiff tailwind all the way to the other end. Fuentes turned it into a breakaway goal.

“It went over two defenders, so I just beat them and took it,” Fuentes said.

The senior’s final goal came in the 63rd minute, as she got the best of a scrum with a defender and Delmar goalkeeper Julia Johnson.

“The goalie let go of it, and I just poked it in there,” Fuentes said.

The Hawks outshot the Wildcats 17-7, with Johnson making nine saves for Delmar. St. Georges was happy to absorb the Wildcats’ early punch and recover.

“We didn’t start as well as we should. We’re a better team,” Fuentes said. “As soon as we started possessing through the middle and playing the way we usually play, that’s when we started getting goals.”

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.