The Indian River Lady Indians varsity soccer team improved their regular-season record to 9-1 following a pair of road wins over Caravel and, most recently, Lake Forest on May 2.
The Lady Indians squeaked past Lake Forest 3-2 behind a pair of goals — one by senior captain Molly Chamberlin and another by sophomore Sara Purdum. And the score could’ve rocketed skyward had the Lady Indians connected on any number of their 36 shots on goal.
“Last night was one of those nights,” Indian River’s head coach Steve Kilby said.
The Lady Indians’ last two wins were part of a three-game road trip that was set to end with Polytech on May 3, after Coastal Point press time.
They breezed past Caravel 5-0, behind two goals and two assists by senior captain Michelle Giorgilli, two goals by Chamberlin and Courtney Lake scoring the fifth.
Kilby noted that the traveling hasn’t affected the girls’ play, though the size of the field — primarily Lake Forest’s field — has had an impact on the score of the game.
“I don’t know that traveling has made a difference in how we play,” he said. “We made the trip up to Caravel and won 5-0. But I think the difference has been that Caravel has a bigger field. We were able to open up our play against them, whereas Lake Forest’s field is so narrow.”
The Lady Indians would like to win another conference title and, ultimately, an opportunity to go further than the second round of the state tournament this season, so every game from here on out is incredibly important, according to Kilby.
Indian River will play six more games in May and round out the regular season against three state tournament-caliber teams in Middletown, Dover and Tower Hill. Indian River bested Tower Hill and Dover but lost to Middletown 4-2 in the early part of last season. Kilby believes that these last few games — especially the ones against these three teams — will prepare them for the ever-approaching state tournament.
“Our objective (against these teams) is to try to raise our level of play, Kilby said.
“We’ve beaten the teams that we should beat. Now we want to know if we are able to grow since Caesar Rodney,” he said. “Middletown is probably one of the top three teams in the state and that’s the next high water test. That’s when we’ll see where we stand.”
But before Indian River squares off for a chance at redemption, they’ll play Smyrna, Dover and Laurel to round out conference play.