Cape Henlopen’s Lizzie Frederick (1) had eight goals and six assists as the Vikings cruised past Caravel 20-7 Thursday night.
DOVER – Even while piling up a 97-game in-state winning streak and seven consecutive state championships, there was one title contender Cape Henlopen had never played.
Caravel was a new opponent, but it was the same old story Thursday night as the Vikings cruised to a 20-7 victory in the semifinals of the DIAA Girls Lacrosse Tournament at Wesley College’s Scott D. Miller Stadium.
The top-seeded Vikings (16-1) will go for their eighth straight crown against third-seeded Tower Hill on this same field at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Fifth-seeded Caravel (14-3) was making its first semifinal appearance. Cape was jazzed up to see somebody new.
“I was kind of ready to play someone different,” said senior Lizzie Frederick, the centerpiece of the Vikings’ attack with eight goals and six assists. “It’s just a different kind of pressure. It’s almost like playing someone out of state. You don’t really know what to expect, so you’ve just got to go in as hard as you can.”
The Buccaneers stayed with Cape early, as junior Olivia Duarte found her way through the Vikings’ defense for three goals. But the Vikings scored six of the last seven to end the first half, with Frederick netting three and Cailey Thornburg getting two goals and two assists as Cape ran to a 12-4 lead.
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“The draw was critical,” Vikings coach P.J. Kesmodel said. “It seemed like we won two-thirds of them. They could score, they’re very dangerous, and it was back and forth for the first 10 minutes. Then we started getting more draws, and that was one of the big things that changed the game.”
The biggest concern was the foul situation. Cape picked up three yellow cards in the first 20 minutes. One more foul would have put the Vikings a player down for the rest of the game, which would have been a huge advantage for Caravel.
“I don’t care how hard you are, that’s a pretty tough thing to do,” Kesmodel said. “I was really sweating that. We really preached, be safe, don’t foul. That’s why we held it so long. I figured if we’re holding it, we can’t foul them.”
Cape avoided another card, and methodically put the game away in the second half. Frederick scored three straight goals to make it 17-7 and trigger the running clock with 14:21 to play.
Thornburg and Evelyn Shoop each added four goals for Cape. Duarte finished with four goals for Caravel.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.