The Lady Indians varsity soccer team notched their third shutout victory in the team’s last four games, following a 4-0 win over PolyTech on May 3 and a 6-0 win over division foe Smyrna on May 8, as conference play comes to a close.
Michelle Giorgilli beats a Smyrna defender to the ball to set up the attack.Indian River (11-1) was set to round out its conference play with Dover and Laurel on May 9 and 10 (after the Coastal Point’s press time), before taking on Middletown and Tower Hill in a final test prior to the Delaware State Tournament, which begins May 22.
Head coach Steve Kilby said he is very confident in his players’ individual abilities, as well as how well they play as a team. But he said he was somewhat concerned about keeping his players fresh during the upcoming stretch.
Kilby noted the kind of job that reserves Erin Kortvelesy and Courtney Lake did in the Smyrna win and said their play, among others’, will be essential if the Lady Indians are to continue their success over the next four games.
“I made a conscious effort to keep the subs rolling in and out of the game, so that our first 11 to 14 players didn’t get overworked,” Kilby said.
“And I thought that Kaitlin Binstead and Courtney Lake did a nice job for coming off the bench,” he continued. “They are players that we’ll look to in the future, but they also do a lot of nice things for us (now). And this (opportunity) gives them some a chance to get seasoning.”
Indian River will have played five games over an eight-day period to close out the regular season, including their recent win over Smyrna. But as of Wednesday the Lady Indians were playing good, strong soccer and could only go forward.
Indian River dominated the flow of the game from the outset, in which Lake and senior Captain Molly Chamberlin scored the Lady Indians’ first two goals on assists from Sara Purdum midway through the first half.
Purdum later scored with three minutes remaining in the first half, on an assist from Marlena Schleifer, to give Indian River a 3-0 first half advantage.
Kortvelesy and Chamberlin scored the Lady Indians’ next two goals on assists from Michelle Giorgilli. And Kortvelesy later topped Indian River off with an assist to sophomore reserve Amber Nash for the Indians’ 6-0 final score.
“Indian River really is one of the top teams in state,” Smyrna head coach Ryan Buchanan said. “If you want to play with them, you have to play your best – because if you don’t, they make you look bad.”
And for Indian River, it all started with winning balls and moving them in for shots on goal.
“I really liked the way we kept the ball moving forward,” Kilby said. “And Michelle Giorgilli did a nice job of winning those 50/50 balls to help us move forward.
And, though Kilby expressed a satisfaction about how well his team moved the ball, he also noted that they’d have to start finishing more. Indian River ratcheted out 28 shots, compared to Smyrna’s three.
“We need to do a better job finishing our chances, Kilby said. “It will make our life easier.”
The Lady Indians are set to travel to Middletown on May 12 and play at 6:30 p.m.
Indian River lost 4-2 last year to a Middletown team that went on to win two state tournament games over Sussex Tech and Wilmington Friends, by a combined score of 6-2, before falling to St. Mark’s 3-0 in the semi-finals.
The Indians will round out regular-season play against Tower Hill at 4:30 p.m. on May 15.