Ireton girls outlast Cubs in soccer, 5-4

Senior Adrienne Maday (10) always draws the attention of opponent's best players.

In 2012, Ireton thought they let Visitation win a game in Alexandria that the Cardinals should have won. In 2013, they opened the game well aware of the need to start fast and control the game. They got that fast start but the Cubs proved unwilling to play the part of overwhelmed opponent. The result was a high scoring battle in Georgetown on Friday where the Cardinals survived host Visitation 5-4 to improve to 5-1-2 for the season while the Cubs fell to 3-5-1.

“We were playing brilliantly for the first 10 minutes.” said Coach Gino Leon. “Lillie Weber and Adrienne Maday really paced us offensively. Kenza Alaoui and Capri Puglise did a great job on defense. We needed that effort with Natalia Barrow out of the lineup. She is our quarterback on the back line of defense. ”

The game was knotted at 1-1 after the opening half of play. The fireworks erupted in the game’s second period. Adrienne Maday blasted a long range shot into the back of the net, Weber added two of her three goals, and Grace Hersey continued her scoring streak. Equally important to Leon, Megan Reilly, Sabrina Leoncio, Cori Vasques, and Weber tallied assists on the Ireton goals. Ileana Gutierrez also drew praise from the Ireton head coach for her superb play. “Ileana is a hard-working, smart player. She was an important part of the win.”

The Cardinals will host St Mary’s Ryken Monday at the Witter Street Fields. The game was rescheduled at the end of last week at the Knights’ request. The Cardinals will then head off to Holy Cross on Friday for a key matchup with an old WCAC rival.