The Bishop Ireton and Paul VI women’s lacrosse teams both lost semi-final games in the WCAC tournament May 10.

Ireton dropped an 8-4 decision to Holy Cross after defeating O'Connell 15-8 last week in the quarterfinals. PVI was outscored by second-seeded Good Counsel 9-7, ending the Panther’s season at 11-5 overall.

In the game against Holy Cross, Ireton, coached by Amy Mantooth, trailed 4-2 at halftime. The fourth-seeded Cardinals also trailed the top-seeded Tartans 6-4 late in the game, but got no closer.

"They simply beat us to too many ground balls and won too many draw controls," said Ireton goalie Kari Morrison.

Leading Ireton offensively were sophomore Mia Breheny (two goals), senior Sarah Swinehart (one goal) and sophomore Erin Cushing (one goal).

Defensively, Morrison, the 2004 WCAC player of the year, recorded 147 saves, 11 ground balls and three interceptions.

"We're going to have trouble replacing Kari next season. She takes her play seriously. When she puts on her helmet out there she's really on a mission," said Mantooth.

"We've got a pretty young team. Our main task next season will be replacing Kari Morrison."

Paul VI led 1-0 early on, but got behind the proverbial eight-ball and trailed 5-2 at halftime. The Panthers never closed the deficit until late in the second half.

"They won a decisive number of draw controls. They gained the advantage and we became impatient," said PVI’s second-year head coach Joe Dannemann. Junior Katie Doherty (four goals) spearheaded PVI’s offensive attack.

In addition, senior Erin Flynn, junior Marie Zapolski and freshman Victoria Velesz added one goal apiece.

The third-seeded Panthers defeated sixth-seeded St. John’s 6-4 last week in quarterfinal action.

"The team showed a lot of character as the season went on. If anything, we may have overachieved a little bit. There were a lot of competitive games this year. We're disappointed that we won't be getting back to the championship game but the returning players are already looking forward to next year," said Dannemann.

Ireton Boys Lose to DeMatha

The Ireton boys, coached by Joe Redding, experienced the growing pains of being a young squad. The Cardinals defeated Carroll 12-5 in the WCAC "play-in" game last week, and then lost 18-3 to top-seeded DeMatha, thus ending Ireton’s season at 5-15 overall.

Only four seniors were on the team this season: midfielders Brendan Kearney and Chris Bass and defensemen Pat Fuller and Marc Newland.

"We went into the season knowing that it was going to be somewhat of a rebuilding year. Late in the season, we won four of our final eight games when the kids started to gel. I'm very pleased with the freshmen and sophomores on this team. Hopefully the momentum will carry over into next season," said Redding.

O’Connell Lacrosse Loses in Quarterfinals

The O'Connell boys’ lacrosse team dropped a 6-2 decision in the WCAC quarterfinals to conclude the 2004 season with an overall record of 7-11.
Scoring both goals was junior attack Joe Gargiulo. Gargiulo had 59 goals/15 assists/120 ground balls led the Knights this season.

Junior Peter Farag - 17 goals/16 assists, junior David Kent - 24/eight and junior Danny Houk - seven/13 - also contributed to the Knights offensive success this season.

Midfielders Colin Davis, Ed Lynch, Liam O'Connell, Brandon Adams and defenders Brian Dilley, David Dannemiller and Pat McGann all had solid
seasons for the "Knights." Senior goalie Ricardo Vargas had an excellent season in goal for the Knights.

"We've always been a decent team. We went out and fought as hard as we could have this year. I love my school and I'm going to miss putting on my jersey," said Vargas.

"Our team chemistry was better this year than it was last year. We played more as a team this season. Defensively, we might struggle some next season, but we should be very good offensively," said second-year head coach Brian Rosenberger.