ROSEMONT, PA – On April 5th, Episcopal Academy hosted Agnes Irwin and the Churchwomen came away victorious with a score of 11-10. This past Friday, it was the Irwins’ turn to host EA and the Owls pulled off their one-point overtime victory with a final score of 7-6.

With only three weeks remaining in the regular season, the AIS Owls (11-4, 6-1) and rival Episcopal Academy (15-3, 6-1) are currently tied for first place in the Inter-Ac – both teams having only one loss to each other. 

And start strong they did. Natalie Pansini added the Irwins first goal with 18:12 remaining on the clock, but Katie Crager added another goal for the Churchwomen with a little over 16 minutes in the first half to put her team up 4-1. Lucey added her second goal of the afternoon to enhance EA’s lead 5-1. EA’s fifth goal quickly resulted in a timeout called by AIS’s head coach, Jenny Duckenfield.

“I told them you need to play your game, you need to take care of the ball and you need to attack the goal,” said coach Duckenfield. 

With 28-seconds left in the first half, AIS senior Emily Fryer added her first of two goals of the day to send her team into the half trailing 2-5.

“In the first half, we were taking low percentage shots. Our defenders were shooting most of the balls and we weren’t driving hard,” said coach Duckenfield.

AIS junior, Lila Barker propelled her team to begin the second half scoring the Irwins third goal with 20:45 left on the clock. Nine minutes later, Fryer added her second goal to leave her team just one goal shy of tying EA. One minute later, the tying goal was scored by senior Kristin Burnetta.  

As the final seconds were ticking off the clock, you could see and feel the spirit of the girls playing on the field and the excitement radiating from both teams’ benches. Both squads played their hearts out – but as the story goes, only one team could walk away with the “W.”

The Irwins three goal streak was silenced by EA’s Katie Crager, with 6:05 left in regulation. A sweep was looking bright for EA, but with 1:35 left on the clock AIS Harvard commit Kristin Burnetta scored her second goal of the afternoon to send both teams into overtime. 

In a game like this, win or lose, both coaches were extremely proud of the way their girls battled on the field.

“I’m very proud of all of our kids especially (goalie) Sydney Gagnon who made a couple great saves in overtime that gave us more opportunities than we really should have had,” said coach Ferri.

“They started driving hard in the second half and winning the draws. Kate White came up with some great ground balls and they all just did a really great job,” said coach Duckenfield   

With both teams tied in first place, AIS and EA will have to maintain flawless records in order to guarantee themselves the 2016 Inter-Ac title. One thing is for certain, if the Owls and Churchwomen meet again in the PAISAA tournament, be sure to have popcorn in hand and be ready for five-star performance.

Looking Ahead: Agnes Irwin’s next Inter-Ac match-up will be against Springside Chestnut Hill on Tuesday May 3rd. Episcopal Academy will also travel to SCH on Thursday May 5th. Both games are scheduled to begin at 3:30PM.