Girls soccer: Ocean City flexes scoring muscles early in 7-0 win over Cedar Creek

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
OCEAN CITY — If there was any doubt heading into the final weekend of September who the best team in the Cape-Atlantic League National Conference is, there isn’t any now.
On Monday afternoon under gray skies at Carey Stadium, host Ocean City scored early and often in a dominating 7-0 win over second-place Cedar Creek. The Red Raiders tallied three goals in the first 13 minutes and kept their foot on the gas until halftime, by which time Ocean City had sprinted out to a 6-0 lead. The second half was mostly about getting some work for the reserves as the Red Raiders look ahead to Wednesday’s rivalry matchup against Mainland Regional. Ocean City lost to Mainland three times last season, including in the championship game of the inaugural CAL Tournament.
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Summer Reimet notched a pair of goals and junior star Faith Slimmer showed off her array of skills with one tally and a pair of assists, including a pretty no-look heel pass that set up a finish from Kelsey White that pushed the score to 4-0 with 22 minutes still remaining in the first half.

“With any opponent, we try to get after it fast and try to take control of the game, which I thought we did,” said Ocean City coach Kelly Halliday. “The more time goes on and the more we let a team stay in the game, the more the momentum can switch. We’ve had a couple different scorers getting (on the sheet) so that’s good for our confidence for our team going forward.”
Reimet got the scoring going early as she took control of a loose ball and drilled a shot into the lower right corner of the goal, and a few minutes later Slimmer played a ball through to Hannah Keane, who was 1-v.-1 with the keeper and finished to make it 2-0. Slimmer then sent in a beautiful cross that younger sister Hope finished off, and later in the first half Paige Panico got on the board to push the lead to 5-0. Aimee Altieri, with 14 minutes left in the first half, made it 6-0 when she lofted a goal into the upper right corner from about 40 yards out. In all, the Red Raiders (10-1, 8-0) had six different goal scorers. The defense also limited Cedar Creek (5-4-1, 4-2-1) to just one solid scoring chance.
“Our defense has really stepped up and it’s relatively new. We graduated three seniors from the defense last year, so I’ve been happy with Suzy Dietrich. She came into preseason fit and ready to play, and she’s really helped Delaney out in the back, really holding things down,” Halliday said. “And Summer has been a great component to Faith, she’s stepped up when we’ve needed her. And with the bench, when I bring people in, nothing changes there. I’m happy overall. When we’re in control of the game we have a chance to win.”

Ocean City faces Mainland, Lower Cape May and Oakcrest before the seedings will be announced for the CAL Tournament, which features the leaders of the three conferences plus one at-large bid. The Red Raiders and OLMA look like locks to make the field, and Millville and Egg Harbor Township are battling for first place in the CAL American. The Red Raiders haven’t faced any of those three teams yet this season. No matter who makes the field, Ocean City will be inspired to make up for last year’s finals loss to Mainland.
“That’s been on our list forever. We play Mainland again this week and that’s been our constant reminder, that they beat us three times last year, so we want them to keep that in mind,” Halliday said. “Every day is a progression and we’re getting better. We have a couple of big weeks coming up with the CAL Tournament, the Coaches Tournament and the state playoffs. We’re looking forward to some competition and some redemption in the CAL Tournament. I think we look forward to competition because we know that makes us better for big games coming up. We’re excited.”
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays