The weather was beautiful last Tuesday afternoon when Germantown Academy traveled to Agnes Irwin School for an Inter-Ac League lacrosse match, but unfortunately for the visiting Patriots, the outcome of the game did not reflect the clear, sunny conditions.

The host Owls won by a final score of 16-8, but they had taken control of the contest early on by ringing up the first seven goals of the match. The Pats got on the board in the middle of the second quarter, and in the fourth period, they were able to match Irwin goal-for-goal, 4-4.

The GA squad departed with an overall record of 1-5, their victory coming in overtime in a non-league bout with Lawrenceville School. Their league mark was 0-4, but that included setbacks against Inter-Ac leaders Episcopal Academy and Penn Charter and an 11-10 loss at Springside Chestnut Hill.

Tuesday's win for Irwin was the team's first league victory in three starts, and overall, the Owls leveled off at 3-3. One of their assistant coaches, Julie (Shaner) Young, was a standout at GA and went on to coach Villanova University. Her daughter Kelsey is a freshman on the Agnes Irwin team.

GA has been navigating the early part of the 2024 season without the services of two very talented players who both suffered ACL injuries. One is senior Emma Goodwin, who'll go on to play for Dartmouth College, and the other is junior Sydney Wanner, who may be able to return to action next month.

Agnes Irwin senior Mairyn Dwyer, who has signed with the University of North Carolina, opened the scoring, and this would be the game's only goal for more than five minutes. GA threatened at the other end, but Owls goalie Maggie Mullen (University of Richmond) turned aside a hard low show from the left side of the circle by fellow senior Lucia Smigiel (UConn) of the visiting side.

Once junior Caroline Chisholm (verbally committed to Boston College) gave the home team a second goal with 6:37 remaining in the opening quarter, things went downhill in a hurry for GA. In less than four minutes, the Owls would add five more goals, and the Patriots would never really get back in the game.

The visitors played well in stretches but had numerous careless passes intercepted by the Owls.

Junior goalie Sadie Hess had five saves for Germantown, playing behind defenders Sophie Goodridge, Maggie Morrissey, Kaitlyn Pokorny (all seniors) and Maggie Luviano (a sophomore).

Smigiel led the GA attack with five goals, and the Patriots also received two goals from senior Gigi Ippoldo (College of William & Mary) and one from senior Maggie Borek (United States Naval Academy). Borek and Ippoldo are team captains this spring, along with Goodwin and Caitlin Luviano (Brown University).

Irwin juniors Blair Fox and Catie Holmes led the Owls with four goals and three goals, respectively.

Both the Owls and Patriots produced impressive performances the next time they took the field. 

Back home on Wednesday, Germantown chalked up its first Inter-Ac victory, with Smigiel turning in another five-goal effort to lead a 10-7 victory over the visiting Academy of Notre Dame. Ippoldo added a hat trick for the Patriots.

Irwin, on the road on Thursday, defeated league leader Episcopal in triple overtime, 11-10. 

Meanwhile, another area girls' lacrosse team, Springside Chestnut Hill, picked up league and non-league victories and saw individual players reach milestones. On Tuesday, the Blue Devils hosted Notre Dame, holding a slim lead near the end of regulation play before the visiting Irish tied the match. SCH eventually prevailed in overtime, 15-14, on a marker by senior Alex Reilly, who scored her 200th career goal during the game.

Two days later the Devils rolled to a 21-0 win over non-league opponent Merion Mercy Academy. Here, senior Madison Freeman recorded her 100th career goal for SCH.