BERLIN- Worcester Prep’s girls’ varsity lacrosse team enjoyed a big week, beating Cape Henlopen, 10-8, for the first time ever last Thursday before sweeping a pair of games to win the Karl Wolf Invitational for the second year in a row.
The Worcester girls have faced Cape for several years and while the games have typically been competitive, the Mallards had never broken through. That changed last week when the Worcester girls got out to an early lead and withstood a late charge by the Vikings to capture their first win ever over Cape.
Lilly DiNardo took matters into her own hands from the start, winning the opening draw and going right down the field to score just 26 seconds into the contest for a quick 1-0 lead. DiNardo would score four of the Mallards’ first five goals as Worcester jumped out to a 5-1 lead.
Cape scored about halfway through the first to cut the lead to 5-2, but DiNardo answered again with a goal to push the lead back to 6-2. Cape scored twice with about 20 minutes left in the second half to cut the lead to 6-4, but again Worcester responded with goals by Kristen Shriver and DiNardo to push the lead back to four goals at 8-4.
Molly Soule scored a short time later to extend Worcester’s lead to 9-4. Cape would not roll over easily, however, and reeled off three straight goals to cut the Worcester lead to 9-7 with a lot of time left. Sophie Brennan scored a goal off a nice assist from Shriver to push the lead to 10-7 with the clock rolling down. Cape scored a late goal to cut the lead to 10-8, but the damage had been done and Worcester held on to beat the Vikings for the first time ever.
Fresh off their big win against Cape, the Mallards traveled over to the western shore last Saturday to compete in the 13th Annual Karl Wolf Tournament, a boys and girls tournament at Howard High School. The tournament is named for Karl Wolf, who was the leading scorer for the 1984 Howard High boys’ team that reached the state championship game. In 1999, Wolf lost his battle with Hodgkin’s disease after a long fight.
Last year, the Worcester girls won the tournament after routing Reservoir in the semifinals and edging host Howard, 9-8, in the title game. Last Saturday, the Mallards returned to defend their title and swept two games to repeat as champions. The Worcester girls beat Wilde Lake, 18-6, in the semifinals and then beat host Howard again in the championship game, 15-13.
With the win, the Worcester girls are now 9-0 on the season. The Mallards face St. Thomas More on the road on Monday before facing Sussex Tech in their last regular season home game next Thursday. The Worcester girls close out the regular season with an always tough game against Saints Peter and Paul on the road in the regular season finale on May 6. The Sabres presented the Mallards with their toughest challenge of the season back on April 2, a game won by Worcester, 9-8.