Cougars dump Cardinals, 16-10

When the 2010 girls lacrosse schedule was announced, the Cardinals knew they were in for all they could handle early in the season; opening with national power St Stephens followed by Richmond powerhouse, Collegiate. The road doesn’t get easier next week as the Cards host 6-time defending WCAC champions, Good Counsel, perhaps the best team of the bunch. The strategy behind the schedule was to season an inexperienced squad that graduated 11 seniors, including 7 division I players. That seasoning is underway as the Cougars of Collegiate bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit with three straight goals enroute to a 16-10 win in Alexandria.

Sarah Rupp paced Ireton offensively, but the red and gold had no answer for the dominance of the visitors in the center draws. Ireton managed only 9 wins in nearly 30 draws on the day, pinning the Cardinals in their own end for extended periods of time. Junior Maggy Covert, playing her second game in goal, made a number of strong saves, but the Cougars had too many opportunities.

Ireton drew within 5-3 when sophomore Maddy Ziegler scored and the first half ended 10-6 for the green and gold clan visitors. Collegiate would come out in the second half to score the first goals of the period and hold Ireton at bay until Rupp scored with only 14:16 left in the contest to make it a 13-7 game. The teams played evenly for the balance of the contest on a perfect weather day for lacrosse. Collegiate improved to 3-1 on the young campaign while Ireton fell to 0-2, with the Falcons visiting Fannon Field on Tuesday at 4pm.

“We played much better today,” said Ireton’s head coach, Steve Tela. “We are a better team now than we were a week ago. You want to win them all, but it is about winning the last two in May more than winning the first two in March.” The Cardinals made strides in that direction.

The Cougars bolted to a 5-0 advantage in the JV nightcap, enroute to an 11-3 win. The loss dropped the young Cardinals to 0-2 with Good Counsel visiting at 5:30 on Tuesday.