Indian River
Cape Henlopen

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Nail-biting, down-to-the-wire field hockey games have become commonplace for Cape Henlopen High School in the early stages of the 1998 season.

Entering their Henlopen Conference contest against Indian River on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 1998, the Vikings had already notched slim, one-goal victories over Caesar Rodney and Lake Forest and battled Laurel to a scoreless tie.

A youthful IR squad, which traveled to Lewes with a 2-3 record, wasn't likely to roll over, either, especially against one of its biggest rivals.

Cape held a huge advantage in shots (13-3) and penalty corners (20-4) throughout regulation and overtime but in the end was left with another scoreless tie, its second in less than a week.

"I think that everybody we play is playing to the best game that they have in them and we just have to deal with that situation and right now we're not dealing with it," Cape coach Mike Eisenhour said. "We need to put the ball in the cage."

The Vikings (3-0-2) dominated the 10-minute, seven-on-seven overtime period, getting five shots and five corners, but could not get the ball past IR goalie Kami Banks, who made a number of clutch saves down the stretch.

"Obviously today I'm real frustrated because I think we had a dominating play of the game and you don't get points for putting it in the circle, you don't get points for putting it off the end line, it only counts when it goes in the cage. Somehow that message has to get received by people. That's what really bothers me right now," Eisenhour said.

"When you have the opportunities in a situation and it doesn't happen, it's real frustrating. I'm frustrated and know my kids are frustrated."

Indian River, meanwhile, got an emotional lift from battling the three-time defending conference champions to a 0-0 tie.

"It was a good moral victory," IR coach Cheryl Carey said. "Our goal was to come out hard and again we got off to a slow start but then I saw some fire in them in the second half and to me that's exciting."

Cape dominated the first half, outshooting the Indians 7-2, and were still in control early in the second half before IR sprung to life with about 20 minutes to play. The Indians got a number of good scoring opportunities down the stretch and with 10:46 remaining, Sarah Lyons unleashed a long shot that resulted in a fine kick save by Cape goalie Zina Hense.

The Vikings managed just one shot on goal in the second half but re-established their dominance in overtime. With five penalty corners in the extra period, Cape unleashed a barrage of shots at Banks, who was like a brick wall in goal. Banks made kick saves on shots by Emily Walls and Billie Jo Brittingham and caught a break when Lindsay King shot wide left in the final minute.

"I knew my defense was going to help me because they always help me. They always somehow manage to get back there," Banks said. "It's just like I know I have to stop it because I'm the last person. I was really proud of my team."

Carey noted maintaining Tuesday's intensity level will be one of the main goals during the final five weeks of the season.

"That's my thing. If you can raise it to play Cape, then you should be capable of that every day. I know that's a tough thing but that's our goal, just to get better every day," Carey said. "We've got to put the ball in the cage, no doubt about it. We've got to take advantage of our corners."

Eisenhour also praised the Indians for their inspired effort.

"They earned it. They did a great job and they earned what they got," he said. "I just feel that we came away and had the opportunities and it didn't happen for us. I told my kids I think we played a very intense game, I think we played extremely well as far a hustle and desire was concerned and I just felt that we didn't do some intelligent things at certain crucial points in the game."