Wilmington, NC - The Cape Fear women's soccer team would use another strong first half to beat Howard Community College by a score of 5-0, and be named winners of CFCC Port City Classic. Freshman Sierra Raynor scored her first two goals of the season, while freshman Janessa Annis scored her third. Sophomore Alyssa Coustenis, and freshman Alaina Capps each scored their first goals of the season.
The game started open, with both teams moving up and down the field at a high pace. The Sea Devils first real chance at goal came in the 10th minute, when sophomore Alyssa Coustenis had her free kick stopped by the goalkeeper.
Cape Fear's first goal would come soon after in the 11th minute, as Annis would score from right in front of goal, her third of the weekend after scoring two yesterday.
Coustenis had another solid chance at goal a few minutes later, but her shot would go wide. Not long after, Raynor would have a shot at goal off a free kick stopped by the keeper as well.
For much of the first half, Howard was unable to create many opportunities with the ball. Cape Fear was sound defensively, giving Howard little room to create chances. Cape Fear was able to dispossess their opponent often, which resulted in the majority of possession.
Cape Fear would get their second goal in the 30th minute, when Capps would send a shot past the goalkeeper after Raynor battled the ball from the defender, and set her up with a pass in the box.
Raynor would then score the team's third goal in the 44th minute, set up on a nice ball from freshman Anna Massengill.
The team's fourth goal would come just after the start of the second half, with Annis heading a pass to Raynor for her second goal of the game.
Coustenis would get Cape Fear's fifth goal of the game in the 49th minute, taking a rebounded shot from Raynor, and placing it in the net.
From that point, possession would switch back and forth, with neither team creating much on offense. While Cape Fear continued to look to score, they focused on preventing Howard from getting good chances on goal.
Overall, Cape Fear dominated both today, and over the course of the weekend. Head coach Ryan Deppa was pleased with his team's performance. "I couldn't ask for anything more out of them. To play in yesterday's weather, and come back, they went after the game from the beginning to the end today. They really brought a great effort again."
Despite playing less than 24 hours ago, the Sea Devils looked the fresher side. While Coach Deppa acknowledged playing 22 players in each game helped with that, he credited his players for preparing themselves. "It's really on them. They did a good job in between [games], so we were able to play [with] a little higher energy."
Four different players scored today, and Deppa believes goals will continue to come from multiple players. "We have a handful of kids that can score goals, and I think we're going to see it spread out like it's been throughout the year." With nine goals scored over the course of the weekend, Deppa sees this as reflective of his team's style of play. "We're not trying to score one goal, we're trying to really go after it. As long as we keep working, I think that it'll be part of what we are as a team."
With today's win, the Sea Devils improved to 2-0 in the season.
Cape Fear will return to the field on Saturday, September 3rd, as they take on conference foe Patrick Henry Community College at 2 p.m. at Legion Stadium.
Courtesy of Nick Denning
