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“It’s Not an Accident”, Cardinals claim first state title, 9-7

Posted On: Sunday, May 18, 2014
By: wsimmons

Bishop Ireton's 2014 VISAA Division I Girls' Lacrosse state champions. climbing into the top 10 as well in most national high school polls.

“The bottom line,” said head coach Rick Sofield, “the girls played with a great deal of heart.”  Indeed, when the top-ranked Saints of St. Stephens/St. Agnes thoroughly dominated the game’s opening 6 minutes in racing to a 4-0 lead, the Cardinal faithful fidgeted nervously in their seats in Collegiate School’s beautiful field on a picture perfect spring day in Richmond.

The Saints’ senior captain, Olivia Mikkelsen, opened the scoring in the 2014 state championship at 23:21 off a free position opportunity and junior Zoe Belodeau made it 2-0 a minute later. Ellie Carson scored on another free position before a yellow card to Ireton gave Darby Philbrick the Saints’ third free position scoring opportunity of the game and the Cardinals had yet to cross midfield, suddenly down 4-0.

Sofield got a timeout and steadied the second-seeded WCAC champs.  “Coach called a good time out, we got our act together and came out strong,” junior attack Kelly Mathews told DCSportsFan’s Brian Kapur.  “That was a key time in the game to get back and put a couple goals on the board.”

It was Mathews that found senior Kendall Cunningham for Bishop Ireton’s first goal of the game at 17:17.  Mathews tallied next at 13:29 to pull Ireton back to 4-2 before Avery Donahoe made it 5-2 in the game’s 14th minute of play. To that point, the white-jerseyed Saints had dominated the draws, sitting on a 6-1 advantage and playing the game in their offensive zone.

Cunningham’s second goal of the half came at 2:28 as the momentum began to shift and Ireton followed  an extended series of plays in their offensive zone to close the half but future Southern Cal goalie, Gussie Johns, strong all afternoon, denied the Cardinals any further first period scoring.

The second half, however, was a different story.  Now it was the Cardinals gaining the majority of draw controls, their speed beginning to aid the comeback.  St Stephens had the first scoring opportunity of the second half, but goalie Olivia Cole was equal to the challenge.  Minutes later WCAC player of the year, Charlotte Sofield scored to inch the Cardinals closer at 5-4, only to see the Saints counter with a goal of their own 30 seconds later. The pace of the game was quickening.

At 18:55 remaining it was Cunningham once again for her third goal on a perfectly executed play. As Sofield broke the goal, the Saints expertly slid into a tight double team, only to see the rangy Cardinal thread a pass to the Rhodes college-bound senior for a wide open shot.  Ireton was back to within a goal at 6-5 just under 6 minutes into the second half.

Draw controls, so scarce in the first half  for Ireton now came the Cardinals’ way, and after her third consecutive draw win, freshman Kayla Douperrouzel tied the game with 18 minutes left.  Another free position goal, a minute later, gave the Saints their last lead of the game at 7-6.

Kelly Larkin’s free position shot hit the post but she snared the ground ball rebound and scored at 11:54 prompting the Saints to use a time out with the scored knotted at 7-7. Shortly after, Sofield assisted once again off a double team, this time finding Douperrezoul  at 9:45 and the Cardinals had their first lead at 8-7.

Momentum was now with the cardinal and gold and the time started to become the enemy of the defending champions. Ireton spread the field and began to eat large chunks of time as they worked the offensive side of the field. Finally, Kelly Larkin found an open Kelly Mathews with 3:59 remaining and suddenly Sofield’s charges held a two-goal advantage.

Another critical draw control and more time burned off the clock before the Saints forced an Ireton turnover in the game’s final 100 seconds.  Quickly, they transitioned into the offensive zone but the Cardinals defensive again continued to stymie the St. Stephens attack, never giving an open look and shots from the perimeter were off the mark. Finally, as the clock wore down to the final moments, Bishop Ireton forced a last turnover and ran out the clock to secure the win.

It started in June; the conditioning, the workouts, club tournaments. Soon it was 6am workouts before the school day began, followed winter league games and always the training.   The schedule was demanding; 7 state champions or runners-up were on the schedule, scrimmages with the likes of nationally top-ranked McDonogh School, rescheduling a rained out game with powerful Georgetown Visitation the day before defending WCAC champions Good Counsel visited Fannon Field.  For Coach Sofield it was all designed to prepare for one thing, “six games in May”; the three WCAC championship tournament games immediately followed by three more challenging VISAA tourney games.  Most anticipated the inevitable match up with the cross town champion Saints in Richmond.  On Saturday, it all paid off for the Cardinals.

“It’s not an accident”, was the phrase on the backs of the Cardinals’ warm up shirts all year long, reminding them the hard work was paying off.  Once again on the field Saturday they proved to fans and each other,  it wasn’t an accident.

The Cardinals (20-4), ended the season with a first ever WCAC title, a VISAA Division I championship, and their first ever win over the Saints.  For St. Stephens/St. Agnes (27-2),  it was their first ever loss in the state tournament for the storied 19-time ISL champions.

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