It was a good season that could have been a great for Ireton’s girls lacrosse team. Perennial contenders in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, the complexion of Ireton’s season changed in an instant last April 14 when star attack Mia Breheny suffered a torn ACL in a 9-3 loss to eventual league champion Good Counsel (Md.).
Without Breheny, the team’s leading goal scorer for two seasons, the Cardinals still rallied to win six of their next seven games. But they didn’t have enough firepower in late-season losses to Paul VI and Holy Cross (Md.), where they combined for just six goals.
This season, with Breheny healthy again, Ireton (9-9, 5-2 WCAC) hopes it can do something no WCAC team has done since April 13, 2004: Beat Good Counsel (17-3-1, 7-0), which has won 22 straight WCAC games, two consecutive league titles and beat Ireton, 9-8, on April 10.
“It was really strange not playing last year, one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through in my life,” said Breheny, a George Washington signee who has 65 goals and 18 assists. “So it’s good to be back. I’m just trying to savor everything we do now. We want to show everyone how good Ireton lacrosse can be.”
The second-seeded Cardinals will have to win two games in the WCAC tournament to face Good Counsel again. Ireton was scheduled to host rival Paul VI (7-11, 2-5) Thursday afternoon and a win would advance them to play either No. 3 St. Johns (9-6, 4-3) or No. 6 Holy Cross (4-10, 3-4), teams it beat during the regular season.
