Third seeded Potomac School (13-6) rode senior Ryan O’Shea’s five goals in a great first half, to survive in an 16-15 upset of second-seeded Bishop Ireton (19-4) in the semifinals of the Virginia Independent Schools Lacrosse Association championships at Episcopal High School’s Hummel Field Friday. Sophomore Charlotte Morris dominated faceoffs for the Panthers, a strong point for the Cardinals, and blew by a stunned Ireton squad in the first half, opening a 12-6 bulge. “it was perhaps the best half of lacrosse we have played at Potomac since I have been the AD here,” commented Potomac’s Cas Blanchard. “We watched the film from our regular season loss to Ireton and knew we could play much better.” said Morris.
The Alexandria school, playing their third game in four days, seemed unable to match the intensity of the blue clan ISL squad early, but found new life in the second stanza. “They are a very good team, and they played like it today,” coach Steve Tela remarked. “I think it was a tough week physically and emotionally, but the girls had a tremendous season and this doesn’t diminish that really.”
The Cardinals chipped away at the lead and seemed to have the momentum and the game progressed and the Panther lead melted. Senior Maria Bowman scored five of her game high 6 goals for the redbirds, including 4 in the furious final 4 minutes where the Cards took at 15-14 lead. A costly turnover as Ireton was setting up its delay formation gave Potomac the opportunity to tie the game at 15 and O’Shea nailed her 6th goal of the game, the winner, as time expired.
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