The Bishop Ireton(1-0, 1-0) girls’ lacrosse team came away with a decisive 20-2 season-opening victory over WCAC foe Elizabeth Seton at Fannon Field on Thursday, March 20. Weather conditions forced the game to be moved from Seton’s home field in Bladensburg, MD. The Cardinals overwhelmed the Roadrunners with a very balanced scoring attack, strong defense, and excellent passing.
Ireton jumped up 5-0 in the first three minutes and 16 Cardinals scored as Ireton opened the regular season with a conference win. Kelly Larkin scored three goals and freshman Kayla Marshall tallied four points on two goals and two assists in the win.”
Ireton enters their 2014 campaign with high pre-season expectations. The Nike/US Lacrosse poll ranked the Cardinals pre-season #22 in the country and the StudentSports.com FAB 50 national poll has Ireton ranked #13 in their latest edition.
The pre-season analysis from StudentSports.com said: “The Cardinals have steadily improved in each of head coach Rick Sofield’s three seasons, going from a 12-9 record in 2011 to 15-8 in 2012 to 17-6 and a WCAC runner-up finish last year. With 10 returning starters…Bishop Ireton has the potential to have a breakout year.”
The team right now includes eight future NCAA women’s lacrosse players: seniors Olivia Cole (Florida) and Kendall Cunningham (Rhodes); juniors Charlotte Sofield (North Carolina), Kaitlin Luzik (Virginia), Natalie Irwin (Navy), and Kelly Mathews (Boston University); and sophomores Kelly Larkin (Navy) and Brittany Dolan (Penn State).
The Cardinals play four games in five days next week—Tuesday, March 25 vs. Bishop McNamara; Wednesday, March 26 vs. Georgetown Visitation; Friday, March 28 vs. St. Mary’s Ryken; and their first away game of the year Saturday, March 29 at Archbishop Spalding in Maryland. All regularly scheduled varsity home games start at 4:00 p.m. at Fannon Field on Cambridge Road in Alexandria, VA.
Upcoming key WCAC games include an away contest at Holy Cross on Tuesday, April 1; and a home game versus Good Counsel on Tuesday, April 8. The team also faces tough competition this year from out-of-region opponents including home games against teams from New York and Pennsylvania; and away games against teams from Georgia, California, Illinois, and Delaware.