Third seeded Holy Cross upsets Cardinals, 13-9

Holy Cross senior Katie Slater led her Tartan teammates with laser precision on offense and the visitors blanketed the Cardinals as the third-seeded Kensington visitors upset second-seeded Bishop Ireton 13-9 to advance to the WCAC finals Friday. Six-time WCAC defending champion Good Counsel awaits on Friday at 5pm. For the Cardinals, the loss means a wait-to-see who they will likely visit next week for the Virginia Independent Schools lacrosse tournament.

The game was a back-and-forth affair in the first half; Ireton broke away from a 2-2 tie with a pair of goals to go up 4-2, but the Tartans countered to tie at 4. The Cards went back up 5-4, their final lead as the purple and white clan Tartans tied the game and Slater’s 5th goal of the first half gave them a 6-5 halftime advantage.

Holy Cross consistently won the draws and the fleet-footed visitors pressed the offense effectively, but it was a suffocating defense that denied the 8-meter zone to Cardinal passes. When the hosts could get the advantage, they capitalized as sophomore Ellie Marrin pulled Ireton to 8-7 and classmate Aubrey Gartlan quickly tied the game at 8 early in the second half.

At that point, AHC regrouped and began to counterattack. Monica Lucas scored on a free position with 15:10 remaining to give the Tartans a 2-goal lead. Slater tallied again, Lucas converted an Ireton turnover, and the visitors suddenly had a 12-8 advantage. “It was a great game, I was really worried it was getting away from us at halftime,” admitted Holy Cross coach Jenna Ries. “We got a couple calls in the second half and we were really lucky to get this one.”

Maggie Covert made a pair of big saves while the Cardinals were down a player from a yellow card penalty, but the “good guys” continually had trouble cleanly clearing the ball from the goal and experienced painful turnovers while trying to close the lead. Meanwhile, Holy Cross controlled the ball carefully, using up valuable time on the clock. When Slater scored her final goal of the game at 3:14 to give them a 13-8 lead the “handwriting was on the wall” for the Cardinals. Sarah Rupp tallied at 1:47 but it was too little, too late for the red and gold, who miss the championship game for the first time since Holy Cross made their last appearance in 2007.

“Holy Cross was the better team today. We didn’t play our best game, but we played a very good team today.” said head coach Steve Tela. “We’ll regroup, we’ll be back when the state tournament starts.” States are set for next week with the final poll due Sunday, the results of which will determine seeding and opponents. Ireton (13-7), currently a 6th seed looks to be on the road when the final poll is released on the weekend with play beginning Tuesday or Wednesday.