Senior Patrick Moseh (2) had a game-high 20 points when the Cardinals stunned Gonzaga in the quarterfinals of the WCAC playoffs in 2013. a highlight of the year just ending.
As the calendar draws a close on 2013, many pundits in the Washington DC area look back with little cheer for the home town teams over the past year. Â Whether a local college or professional team fan, there just wasn’t much good news in 2013.
The Cardinals, however, found a number of great moments in the year just ending. Â The 2013 winter sports got things started right away and Cardinal fans have been excited from January on, with strong results early in 2013 building into new expectations as the 49th year of Ireton athletics gives way to the 50th.
It started with ice hockey, where a determined group of seniors had slowly built the back the foundations of a good program with hard work and determination. Â The season culminated with a standing room only crowd on their senior night at Mount Vernon Recreation Center when the Cardinals played a thrilling game with cross town rival, St Stephens, St Agnes. Â The game see sawed back and forth with a number of lead changes before a hulking sophomore Jonathan Chin drilled a slap shot high to the glove side to give the Cardinals a 5-4 win over the Saints, to the delight of hundreds of Cardinal faithful in attendance.
Soon after it was boys basketball, where Coach Neil Berkman’s team ended the campaign 18-14, the best mark in more than 25 years. And, of course, the shocker of the entire high school basketball campaign was the 59-53 upset of the top-ranked, undefeated in conference play, Gonzaga Eagles in the quarterfinals of the WCAC championships. Â While the conference sported many nationally recognized programs and future college stars, the Eagles only tasted defeat once at the hands of a WCAC opponent, and it was Berkman’s charges that won going away on a cold, rainy Saturday at Gallaudet University. A 21-12 final quarter broke the Cardinals away from a tied game and sent a buzz throughout the DC basketball community with the surprising news. Â Patrick Moseh’s 20 points led the Cardinals.
The spring would see the Cardinals have a banner year on the diamond, with a third place finish in the always competitive WCAC their highest finish in more than ten seasons. They played air tight defense, used strong pitching and timely hitting on a senior-ladened ball club to make Frank Mann Field an exciting place for baseball, whether it was a 3-1 win over Gonzaga or a 15-0 blowout of ranked Flint Hill, no one wanted to visit the Cardinals during the 2013 season. But Maryland-bound, WCAC player-of-the-year, pitcher Taylor Styles was up to the task when he out dueled Cody Hagenston 2-1 to send Bishop McNamara on to what would be a sweep of top-ranked St Johns and a date with DeMatha in the conference finals.
Coach Rick Sofield’s girls lacrosse team vaulted back into the WCAC championship after a strong season with the strongest non-conference schedule ever assembled at Ireton. Â The girls took a 5-4 lead into halftime at the championships, threatening to become the School’s first WCAC title winners since the 2003 softball upset of Bishop O’Connell. Â But Good Counsel’s senior-dominated squad rallied to win in the second half, but the young Cardinals served notice that Ireton lacrosse was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the years ahead. The 9-8 upset loss to Collegiate in Richmond the following days disappointed, but didn’t detract from the great 17-6 season completed in 2013 and the high expectations for 2014.
Likewise, rowing demonstrated that persistence and hard work pays off in a remarkable season for both boys’ and girls’ crew. Â Undefeated in the regular season the boys varsity 8 earned a bronze medal in the area championships and a 6th seed in the US National championships. The girls also had a strong campaign, capped off by their varsity 4 boat earning a 5th place finish at the US high school championships. Â The boys’ varsity 8 finished 12th, but turned enough heads to garner an invitation to the Head of the Charles” regatta in the fall of 2013 for the boys based upon the strong spring of 2013!
The Fall picked up where the spring left off.  Football started the season strong, and proved any rumor of the program’s demise was premature when they avenged a blowout loss at St Stephens the previous fall with a thrilling 18-15 triumph at Fannon Field.  Ireton’s boys soccer team played everyone tough, including the defending conference champs, Gonzaga, to a 1-1 tie in regular season, then battled the Eagles through a scoreless overtime contest in the WCAC quarterfinals before falling in penalty kicks.  The Cardinals earned a bid to the state tournament for the first time in ages, and demonstrated they were better than their 11th seed by upsetting 6th seeded St Christopher’s on the Saints home pitch to advance to the quarterfinals.  Likewise, the perennially strong girls soccer team played a brutal non conference schedule but achieved a 6th place ranking by the Washington Post, including a tie with top ranked Good Counsel and a pair of wins over St Johns. Senior Megan Sullivan earned a WCAC championship in tennis, Ireton’s first of the year, a victory over  of Paul VI.
The strong showing early in 2013 put high expectations on the swim and dive team as their season got underway late in the calendar year. They didn’t disappoint as the girls raced away to a WMPSSDL Relay Carnival team championship as the boys finished second to kick off the swim and dive season. The girls repeated the feat in the Virginia independent schools relay championships and the boys have a dual meet win over DeMatha on their belts as their dual meet season gears up for January and February. Ireton’s boys hoops is again off to a fast start, 5-2 with a number of quality wins, including Flint Hill, Episcopal, and Archbishop Stepanic of White Plains, New York. Until a setback in Florida, one of Ireton’s two losses is to nationally ranked, and number 1 in the DC area, Paul VI. Few teams have played the Panthers closer than Ireton, including St Johns, ranked #2 in the Post.
With participation in athletics once again at high levels, Cardinals are working hard, achieving and getting better in the process. Â Great things happened in 2013 and they promise more excitement in 2014. “It’s GREAT to be a Cardinal!” is more than a saying these days in Ireton athletics! Â Happy New Year!
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