Senior Hayley Snell (4) drew the praises of coaches for hustle, hard work, and leadership on the field in Ireton's 4-0 win over St. James in the season opener.
The Cardinals’ field hockey team opened its fourth season of play, third in the WCAC, with great expectations and high hopes. The Cardinals started with a core of youngsters that are now growing up together as hockey players. One evidence of the progress is the dominating 4-0 win in Hagerstown Friday to begin the 2014 season.
Christine Macey paced the Cardinals with a pair of goals, Jenny Travis and Kelly Mathews each added a score for the visitors. Anna Fracasso, a second team, all-WCAC performer as a goalkeeper in 2013, picked up where she left off last fall. The plucky junior led the WCAC in save percentage last season and didn’t hurt her average in shutting out the Saints in her 2014 debut.
Ireton bolted to a 2-0 advantage at intermission, Macey getting the redbirds on the board first, Mathews woke up the crowd in the opening moments of the second half with a blast that rang loudly off the goal cage on a corner play assist from sophomore Mackenzie Wallace. Wallace was credited by coaches with being “all over the field” in her debut as a Cardinal hockey player.
Angela Click also drew praise from the coaching staff as did Rose Meyers. The juniors anchored the defensive effort that yielded another shutout for the Cardinals and the hustle resulted in a number of turnovers and stops for the Cardinals. Veteran Hayley Snell was a thorn in the Saints’ side all day, her work in the offensive zone resulted in a number of critical corners for Ireton in the win.
Little time to celebrate the win as rival Bishop O’Connell calls on the Cardinals Monday afternoon in a varsity/junior varsity tilt that will be the WCAC opener for both squads. Varsity starts at 4pm, JV approximately 5:30.
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