Forty diocesan soccer players received post-season awards from the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, including O’Connell senior Nataly Arias, who was named player-of-the-year.

On the girls side, all three diocesan teams finished no worse than .500. O’Connell, coached by veteran Alberto Starace, had a banner season. The Knights successfully defended their 2002 WCAC title. O’Connell defeated Good Counsel in both championship contests.

The Knights started and ended the season ranked #1 by the Washington Post. They finished the season with an 18-1 mark. Only a 1-0 regular season loss to Good Counsel kept the Knights from going undefeated.

Senior midfielder Arias not only earned first-team All-WCAC recognition, but was chosen WCAC player-of-the-year. She will be playing for the University of Maryland next fall.

A trio of talented juniors also earned first-team All-WCAC recognition: midfielder Mick Imgram, striker L.B. Puglisi and defender Lauren Kelly.

Junior defenders Amanda Dabbenigno and Melissa Toulouse, as well as sophomore striker Sarah Fening, earned second-team conference honors.

Junior defender Jeanne Neal and junior goalkeeper Ariel Baniowski earned third-team conference honors. Senior Kerry O'Keefe, junior Cassidy Burton and freshman Liz Carroll received "honorable-mention" awards. Junior standout Kerry Philbin was injured the entire season and may miss the entire basketball season for coach Fran Vitt due to a torn ACL.

"This may very well have been my best team ever," said Starace, who has nearly two decades as the Knights commander-in-chief.

Ireton, coached by Malcolm Wilson (second season), finished 10-7-1 overall in 2003. The Cardinals defeated St. Johns 2-1 in the WCAC quarterfinals, before dropping a 3-0 decision to the powerhouse Knights in the semi-finals.

Sophomore striker Alexis Foltz and freshman defender Danielle Axenfeld earned second-team conference honors.

Senior midfielder Claire Kugler and sophomore striker Kristina Vornadore earned third-team conference honors. Kugler has also earned letters in basketball and track).

Seniors Kari Morrison and Margaret Vaccaro received "honorable-mention" awards.

"We did our best this season. With all of the young players on this team hopefully they will be successful in the years to come," said Kugler.

PVI, coached by Meg Ashley, finished 8-8 overall. The Panthers were upset by Holy Cross in the quarterfinal round, a team that they had defeated two weeks earlier. This marked the first season that the Panthers did not advance to the semi-finals since the mid/late 1990s.

Senior goalkeeper Stephanie Marcellin and senior midfielder Lindsay Curtin earned first-team conference honors. Marcellin is also playing varsity basketball for coach Scott Allen.

Junior midfielder Meghan Oliver and junior defender Laura Culver earned second-team conference honors. Senior Alina Borkowski, sophomore Kelly Grant and freshman Casey Bridges received "honorable-mention" awards.

"It was a fun year, probably the most fun of my three varsity seasons. With all of the players we graduated last year people didn't expect us to do a whole lot this season. Finishing .500 was certainly a positive," said Marcellin.

On the boys side, Paul VI, coached by Enzo Aldunate (first season), finished the season as the only diocesan team with a record above .500. The Panthers finished 7-6-1 overall during the 2003 season, after dropping a hard fought 3-2 WCAC quarterfinal contest to the Gonzaga Eagles. Gonzaga defeated PVI last season for the WCAC title and finished as runners-ups this season to DeMatha.

PVI captains included seniors Mike O'Donnell, Geoff Schutta, Wes Mason and Matt Koziol.

O'Donnell (three year varsity starter) at both goalkeeper and striker earned first-team All-WCAC recognition. Schutta, a midfielder, earned second-team conference honors. Senior goalkeeper Gary Boylan and junior Mike Armellino received "honorable-mention" awards.

"We had some good team unity this season. We all played for one another and not as a bunch of individuals," said O'Donnell, who will attend West Point next year.

Bishop O’Connell, coached by Chuck Laporte, had a number of key wins during the season, but, like PVI, the Knights season ended in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

O'Connell captains included seniors Patrick Philbin and Larry Sheets as well as junior Ryan Frick. Philbin, a defender, and freshman midfielder Tom St. George, earned second-team conference honors.

Philbin's younger sister, Kerry, has earned varsity letters for the Knights in both soccer and basketball in recent seasons. She was injured this year.

Sheets, a defender, earned third-team conference honors. Both Frick and sophomore Steve Renner received "honorable-mention" awards.

"It was a rebuilding year. Things started out a little bit rough, but we were playing well towards the end of the season," said Philbin.

Bishop Ireton, coached by Ian Lewis, also had some key wins but the Cardinals season ended in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

Ireton captains included seniors David Brideau and Jon Horbaly. Brideau, a striker, earned first-team All-WCAC recognition. Junior striker Justin Smith earned third-team conference honors. Horbaly, seniors Nick Fernandez and Patrick White and sophomore Mike Brideau (David's brother) received "honorable-mention" awards.

"We were really pumped up in the two games we defeated Paul VI. I looked forward to being a captain this season. We [Jon and myself] helped to set an example for the younger players," said David Brideau.