skip navigation

GIRLS' LAX: Episcopal Academy's Offense Dominates in Win Over Academy of Notre Dame

By Dan McCarty (photos & video by Dan McCarty), 04/04/19, 11:15AM EDT

Share

VILLANOVA, PA- The Episcopal Academy girls’ lacrosse team is off to a solid start this 2019 season. The team stayed undefeated after an 11-7 rout over host Academy of Notre Dame on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. With this result, it boosted its overall record to 6-0.

The Churchwomen wasted no time at all getting down to business. An early goal by sophomore Sarah Groark played an important role by motivating everyone in coming together to secure the victory.

“We always make such a point of emphasis to come out and score the first goal,” said Groark. “It just hyped everyone up. Everyone was excited to come out really strong.”

Junior Caroline Burt assisted Groark on her first goal. Minutes later, senior Olivia Dirks found the net off of a feed by junior Devon Whitaker. Whitaker then scored unassisted.

Trailing by a score of 3-0, the Fighting Irish used a time out. It turned out to be a good call as juniors Mikayla Dever and Georgie Gorelick registered a goal apiece before the conclusion of the opening half and cut EA’s lead to a narrow 3-2 at intermission.

“Getting a point on the scoreboard pumped up the energy and brought everyone’s spirit’s up,” said Dever.

The game was far from over. The second half turned out to be much more intense on both sides of offense. Dirks scored unassisted. Dever went for another goal. Whitaker scored with Burt assisting and Dirks took a 2-0 sprint of her own to give the Churchwomen a 7-3 surplus. Senior Hannah Gillespie got on board for Notre Dame but Whitaker and Dirks combined to make it 10-4 with 8:20 in regulation.

There was still plenty of time left and the Irish fought back to make the outcome all the more unpredictable. Junior Grace Bleckley, senior Claire Gola as well as Dever all found the net with Dever completing her hat trick. Freshman Alexa Capozzoli scored for EA with 1:17 on the clock and that was a match.

Dirks had a team-high six points on the afternoon. Whitaker added three goals.

“We just fought really hard,” said Dirks. “We knew that they were a great team and that they were going to come out strong. We knew we had to come back with the same amount of energy and even more.”

Sophomore Quinn Sullivan led the way for Notre Dame’s defense.

“I think our defense really wanted it,” said Sullivan. “We had some mistakes. Today is a learning experience for our team that we can learn something from.”

EA senior Olivia Dirks talks about what attributed to her team's victory:

Notre Dame's Mikayla Dever talks about her team's outlook for the season:

EA's Sarah Groark talks about starting the game off strong:

Notre Dame's Quinn Sullivan said she was proud of the way her team came out strong on defense:

Notre Dame vs. EA Highlights by Dan McCarty:

Episcopal Academy will host Academy of Notre Dame on Thursday, April 25, at 3:30 PM.

“Every single game we will push ourselves to work harder and harder,” said Sullivan. “Moving forward, we are going to accomplish so much more.”

“We will keep pushing forward,” said Groark.