Indian River High School girls’ varsity soccer coach Steve Kilby has his team right where they need to be this year. In a month’s time, the Lady Indians have worked together, combining young, fresh talent with established, reputable experience to prove that they are very much contenders for the state title.

In the past 11 games, they’ve given up only one loss, and have managed to outscore their opponents 52-8, with six shutouts. Only in their solitary loss to Caesar Rodney two weeks ago did they let up more than one goal in an entire game.
Indian River continued their dominance on the pitch this past week as the girls’ soccer team extended their record to 10-1, with an 8-0 shutout against Woodbridge and a fierce 3-1 dominance over 8-1 Delmar on Tuesday night.

Delmar came with their own intensity, scoring first in the game under the lights, though the Lady Indians were quick to answer back. Freshman Kaitlin Forte punched a tying shot to the back of the net before knocking a second by the keeper in a one-on-one breakaway.

Prior to Tuesday night’s match-up, Delmar had only given up a game to Dover back in early April, losing by a tight 2-1 margin.

Senior midfielder Marlena Schleifer extended the lead in the 58th minute when she sailed a direct free kick over the keeper’s head from 25 yards out. Powering defense and mids helped aid IR’s senior goalkeeper Taylor Mushrush to a second-half shutout.

Tuesday’s game had a lot on the line, as each team came with a lot to prove. Aggressive and physical play from both sides of the ball swapped back and forth between the teams. “Our team managed to stay classy and focused,” said IR senior co-captain Michelle Giorgilli. “We built a lot of opportunities to help ourselves.”

The captains’ guidance and organization helped the team operate as one unit, setting the pace of the match.
“Defensively, we stayed in tact,” Giorgilli added. “In a game like this, you want the ball to do the work for you, and I think we let that happen. We play really well collectively, too. It’s not just the midfield doing the work or just the defense. It’s
everybody working together, and it all adds up.”

Schleifer, another senior co-captain, couldn’t have been more pleased with the team’s performance on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I’ve never been more proud of anyone I’ve played with at Indian River,” she said. “Usually, this game would be a bloodbath, but we all kept our cool. We came out as a different team in the second half. We came out with a lot more, and we were able to possess the ball in our half. A couple people got shook up tonight, but we played our game and not theirs.”

Midfielder Jordan Warrington took a few minutes to recuperate on the side after fending off a vicious second-half slide tackle.

“We calmed down and slowed down so we were playing at our pace with our heads in the game,” she added. “We were able to control them instead of them controlling us.” Her contributing goal put the Indians up by two and got the team fired up.
“That goal gave us a lot of confidence,” said Giorgilli.

Schleifer described the mechanics of her impressive shot. “[Coach] Kilby had been telling us to put the ball on the frame all night because he saw some weakness with the goalie’s performance,” she said. “Anything from that far out is usually going to be a direct shot at the goal. I had a few that I had flubbed before, but I was able to put it where I wanted to that time.”

Kilby commented this week on the team’s performance, commending them for their ability to keep their heads in the game.
“A lot of times, it’s hard to come back [when your opponent scores first],” he said, “but these girls don’t quit. It’s unfortunate that we gave up a goal early, but they didn’t stop playing. You have to attribute a lot of our success to those center-mids, Michelle [Giorgilli] and Marlena [Schleifer]. They’re creating so many opportunities for other players, and when we rotate [Kaitlin] Forte into that mix, she’s just as creative and works just as hard.”

Crashing the goal and following the shots was one of the points he stressed to his team the whole game.
“We thought [Delmar’s goalie] was susceptible to those kinds of shots,” he said. “She dropped four or five balls when we were just staying there and could have possibly gotten a little more gravy.”

The girls have stepped up with aggressive play all season, but Delmar’s game was one of the few this year where the opponents pushed back.

“We talked about it,” he said. “They wanted to make sure that we stuck to our game plan, moving the ball around, not letting some late tackles affect how we did or did not play.”

The Lady Indians will square off against Lake Forest next Tuesday, May 6, at 7 p.m., allowing for some recovery time this weekend. They will turn around to host Smyrna on Wednesday, May 7, at 7 p.m. and travel to Laurel on Thursday, May 8, for a 4 p.m. game. With a hard push at practice this past Wednesday, Kilby promised the girls some relaxation on Thursday and Friday.

“We have to look ahead,” he said. “States are right around the corner. We want to finish this year strong.”

Each afternoon and evening, athletes, fans and family take to the fields, courts and diamonds to indulge in a number of sporting events. Much praise is given to the players, coaches and managers, but little acknowledgement is given to the few who make it possible. For nearly a decade, Indian River’s custodial crew has been diligently working behind the scenes, day in and day out, to ensure safety, magnificence and appeal to not only the school grounds, but athletic fields as well.

As Scott Kreiser, chief custodian since January, can confirm, operating a crew to oversee an entire school is not an easy task. When there’s field maintenance on top of that, it only serves to magnify the responsibility that much more. From fertilization and grass-cutting to painting and toothing, a multitude of tasks come with keeping the fields shipshape.

“Students see us around the school,” he said. “We have plenty to do inside the school, but tending to the competition fields is one of our responsibilities.”

Kreiser is accompanied by three others when it comes to looking after the fields: Paul Hudson, Tommy Burton and Jamell Harmon. Keeping the inside of the school clean and mowing the rest of the school grounds is among their lengthy agenda, but there’s something about a fresh-cut baseball outfield or a lush, neatly trimmed 50-yard line that makes spectators feel a little closer to the game.

“Managing time is hard,” he said. “All it takes is a little rain, and you’ll find yourself backed up.”

Caring for the fields was never a regulated task for the school’s employees until seven years ago, when former chief custodian Brad Wharton made it part of his responsibility.

“He’s the one who really got it started,” he said. “The fields wouldn’t look as nice as they do if it weren’t for him. He deserves a lot of the credit.”

The fall and spring sports seasons typically beckon Kreiser and his crew outside, although sports fans will find them tidying up at the conclusion of a wrestling match or basketball game in the winter, too.

During the football season, lines are painted every Thursday or Friday before the games. Homecoming games call for more elaborate paint jobs, with checkerboard features in the end zones.

Foul lines on the diamonds are touched up roughly every other week, though cutting the grass is usually done every three to four days. The grass is fertilized every two months to ensure the familiar green hue will welcome the athletes each game.

At the end of each season, the fields are reseeded, too. When cycling through a list of tasks each day, it will ensure that there’s always something to touch up, inspect or improve.

Toothing is a method of caring for the infields on baseball and softball diamonds. A tractor pulling a makeshift rake is used to help dry the dirt quickly in the infield. A specific depth for the teeth is set, based on the dirt’s texture and wetness. They are then screen-dried to help smooth out the dirt.

“We take pride in what these fields look like, and we enjoy it,” Kreiser said. “Some of us even have a little side job in grass cutting. We all enjoy watching the games, too. It’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s also very rewarding.”

Indian River High School’s baseball team will be tested with upcoming back-to-back games, but judging from their driving record, it shouldn’t hinder the squad all too much. The 10-1 Indians continued their hot streak this week, proving triumphant over Sussex Central with a score of 8-4 and Archmere Academy, who they beat 6-4, despite some pain that developed in starting pitcher Luis Barrientos’ throwing arm.

With confidence offering support on the mound and a consistent and heavy-hitting lineup, head coach Howard Smack is anything but worried.

“We’re playing exactly how we need to,” he said. These guys are getting the job done.”

“[Barrientos] is OK to play his position at third,” he noted, “but as far as pitching, I’m just going to hold off on him. I think it’s no more than a muscle sprain, but I’m going with the fact that he knows how he feels. I don’t want to take a chance at injuring him more, being he’s only a junior. He plays a lot of summer ball, and we don’t want to mess him up there. I took him off the pitching lineup but I didn’t erase him off the program.”

Barrientos moved up this year to varsity and has established himself as a very sound pitcher. With his minor hindrance, he will be supplemented with plenty of other talent. For Smack, that just means he will refer back to the roster.

“Cory Showalter is now back to his full repertoire,” Smack said. “We also have a pitcher who we haven’t used all year, and we’ll be putting him out there against Woodbridge.”

Center-fielder sophomore Matt McDowell had the opportunity to try his throwing arm this Thursday.

“We still have Nick [Kmetz], of course, our do-all man,” noted Smack. “He’s usually our closer, and I’d like to keep him in that role.”

“For the guys who are new to varsity, like Luis and Matt, I like to slowly work them in,” he added. “Matt’s played a lot of travel ball, but when you get them up to varsity, you don’t want to throw them to the wolves.”

Rotating McDowell onto the mound will allow for Smack to keep legs fresh in the outfield and a strong cannon on the mound.

“He’s definitely ready,” Smack said of McDowell. “I’ll leave decisions like that up to my pitching coach a lot of the time, but we don’t just do it. We slowly build up to this point. He’s been telling me he’s ready. If I need, I know I can always turn to Trevor Abbott, too. You always want to keep your ace in the hole.”

With a postponed game against Laurel pushed off from this past Tuesday, the Indians had some time to reflect, following last Saturday’s win over Archmere. Archmere had forfeited several games leading up to Saturday’s game at Indian River, due to player ineligibility, but they weren’t about to go down quietly.

“We started out a little slow in that game,” said Smack. “We weren’t hitting on all cylinders.”

Trailing 0-3 by the end of the first inning and 0-4 in the second, IR knew they had to step it up at the plate.

“After that, Nick [Kmetz] shut them down.”

He threw 6 1/3 innings before Abbott closed it out. McDowell stabilized the win with a two-RBI double.

Smack’s priority is on sustaining solid hitting from the bullpen, and, so far, McDowell has been delivering.

“He came through right when we needed it,” said the satisfied coach. “He had the capability. I was just waiting for it to happen and it happened.”

Though Bo Wilkinson finds himself discouraged about his play of late, Smack glorified his performance throughout the season. “He’s been tough all year and he’s done what we’ve asked of him. He just likes to contribute every time.”

Senior Sean Lewis fought at the plate and played, regardless of the fact that he was feeling under the weather. He registered the team’s only two hits in the win against Sussex Central, locking up the game.

“Cameron [Travalini] is going to break loose here, too,” Smack added. “I can feel it, but as long as his glove stays hot, I’m happy. Luke Wingate is doing a great job hitting the ball. He’s got a knack for making the pitcher earn that out. When there are two outs and a full count, he makes you work for it.”

With the state tournament approaching near the end of this month, Smack is hoping that the seeding will treat his ball club well. Seeding is based on a point system, awarded for wins. Victories over teams with a .500 or better record on the season will net them extra points.

Indian River currently sits at the No. 4 spot in the state, sitting just behind Hodgson Vocational Technical School, Alexis I. Dupont and John Dickinson High.

“We can’t look too far ahead,” said Smack. “We’ve got to look at the Woodbridge game and put our emphasis on that. If we can win the next five conference games, we can lock up the Henlopen conference. We’ve just got to come ready to play, every game. We try to frontload the schedule, because if you get ready to end like we are now, it’s tough. All we have to do is keep swinging the bat.”

Indian River took on Cape Henlopen on Wednesday and Woodbridge on Thursday, both after Coastal Point press time, and will follow up with a busy week, hosting Caravel Academy on Monday, May 5, traveling to Lake Forest on Tuesday, May 6, and hitching it to Dover by next Thursday. All games are set for 4:15 p.m.