Falcons outlast Cardinals in girls lax, 12-8

Sophomore Olivia Cole had 11 saves in a hard fought 12-8 Ireton setback to Good Counsel Tuesday.

After a disappointing loss to Georgetown Visitation, Falcons’ Coach Mike Haight suggested he didn’t know which team would show up on Tuesday at Bishop Ireton’s Fannon Field, the one that was thoroughly outplayed by the Cubs or the 7-time defending WCAC champions. 18 minutes into the game, it appeared he has his answer as sophomores Paige Graham and Haley Giraldi each tallied twice to lead Good Counsel to a 6-1 lead in the opening half of play.

“We are closing the gap, we will play better.” said a disappointed head coach, Rick Sofield. The Cardinals, down 7-3 at the intermission, did play better in the second half as seniors Ellie Marrin and Maddie Zeigler scored 50 seconds apart during the 7th minute of action to close the lead to 7-5. Ireton’s defense kept Good Counsel off the scoreboard until Giraldi scored her third of four on the day with 15:35 remaining to extend the Falcon lead to 8-5.

Alyssa Chalk scored her second goal with 10:15 remaining to push the Good Counsel advantage to 4, but Zeigler tallied twice on assists from freshmen Charlotte Sofield and Kelly Mathews to again close Ireton to within a pair at 9-7. Olivia Cole, who otherwise had a strong performance in the net for Ireton with 11 saves, suffered the misfortune of making a key save only to see the ball come out of her stick on the clear and into her goal. Senior Margaret Nealon responded with a goal for the Cardinals and it was a two goal game again with 5:32 to play.

Shea Cassidy scored for the Falcons on a free position with 2:51 to play and Giraldi’s final marker of the day at 1:46 left removed any doubt on the contest’s outcome.

For the Cardinals(6-4, 3-1), it was their first loss in the WCAC after three wins, the Falcons (4-2, 3-0) notched their third win without a defeat in the WCAC. Next up for the Cardinals is a date with a traditionally difficult opponent, St Anne’s Bellfield, on Fannon Field Tuesday, Apr 10th. The road will get only harder as one of the Midwest’s premier teams, Loyola Academy, from suburban Chicago “hosts” the Cardinals on their east coast road trip at Georgetown University. Gametime on Friday is 10:45am.