Ireton's Girl's Soccer Team Competes for League Title

The Bishop Ireton Lady Cardinal soccer team is off to a superb start this season Currently, Ireton, coached by Chris Ryan (second-season), has an overall record of 10-2-2.

"We've been pretty healthy so far this season. I've been pretty pleased with the season thus far," said Ryan, a native of England.

In league play, the Cardinals defeated St. Mary's Ryken twice, Elizabeth Seton (Md.) twice, as well as McNamara, St. John’s, Holy Cross and Paul VI.

In addition, Ireton has defeated Georgetown Visitation and National Cathedral outside the league.

Early in the season, the Cardinals tied the PVI. Late in the season, the Cardinals tied Fulham Futbol Club (1-1), a club from England that was touring the U.S.

Ireton dropped games to defending league champ Bishop O'Connell and Good Counsel, the area’s top-ranked team.

Anchoring Ireton’s goalkeeper position this season is junior Jackie Bader.

"Jackie was honorable-mention All-WCAC last year as a sophomore. She maintains her concentration. Jackie works well at communicating with the defense," said Ryan.

The remainder of the Cardinal defense is led by senior "sweeper" Kaitlin Love, junior "left defender" Catie McCarthy and sophomore "right defender" Alex Galdos.

"Our defenders have played very well this season," said senior midfielder Krissy Vornadore.

"Defensively, we're trying to get everyone involved as a unit," said Ryan. "We've been working on "closing down" space and we've been working on communication. In addition, we want to keep it as simple as possible and make sure that everyone knows their job."

Ireton’s high-powered midfield is paced by senior co-captain Alexis Foltz (inside right), senior co-captain Moe Finn (inside left), senior Melinda Cleveland (outside right) and the aforementioned Vornadore (outside left).

"We've all been playing well. We've scored a lot of goals this season on crosses," said Vornadore.

On the attack is senior Gwen Holdgreiwe, junior Danielle Axenfeld and junior Katie Santos. Holdgreiwe is also one of the top basketball players for Coach Mike Hutton.

"In mid-September, we switched offensively from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3 to get another girl up top and give us more of a scoring threat," said Ryan. "We try to get the ball out wide and consequently try to get us some scoring opportunities that way."

Axenfeld, Vornadore and Foltz have combined to score 30 of the team’s 46 goals. Other key players include senior Cary Ardberg and juniors: Mimi Burns, Sally Dahljelm, Molly Malloy and Michelle Prevost.

"We want to do better against O'Connell and Paul VI the next time we play them," said Axenfeld.

"I'm kind of a perfectionist. Even when we win, I'm still trying to think as to how we can further improve. We need to keep good concentration for the remainder of the season. Once we get to the playoffs, anything can happen," said Ryan.

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