NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA – It is every athlete’s dream of scoring the winning point at the final buzzer. Agnes Irwin junior Emily Wills can now cross that off her bucket list.

“There are no words to describe it,” said Wills, who scored the “golden goal” in overtime to propel the Owls to a 12-11 victory against Episcopal Academy this past Friday.

Leading up to the final goal was no picnic for the Irwins. The Churchwomen came out on fire and held an 8-5 halftime lead. Episcopal junior Olivia Dirks led her team’s offensive attack tallying 5 goals, three of which were scored in the first half. 

“I’m so proud of my team,” said Dirks. “We all worked so hard together right from the start. We came out with a lot of energy, which really helped us and we pushed through the whole game with intensity.”

“We wanted it really bad,” said Wills. “We came off of a hard loss against (Georgetown) Visitation down in Virginia and we started fresh and wanted to get after this EA team. We were looking forward to playing under the lights all year.”

Adding to the friendly rivalry between the two teams is a new face on the Irwin’s coaching staff. Lauren Wray has taken over the reins as head coach of Agnes Irwin’s girls’ lacrosse program after coaching six seasons at Haverford College. Wray has taken the time to connect with her players and establish a solid game-plan in order to have a successful first season.

“Her competitiveness and her attention to detail makes her a great coach. She was super competitive as a player and I think you see that out here. She prepares her kids so well and really focuses on every single aspect of the game. I give a lot of credit to her team. They (EA) played one heck of a game and Josie did a great job preparing them,” said Wray.

While the Churchwomen and Owls battled against each-other on the turf, off the field the two teams joined forces to raise awareness for an important cause. The Friday night showdown kicked off the Checking For Cancer weekend invitational, an annual tournament that raises awareness and funds for prostate, colorectal and testicular cancers. In between the junior varsity and varsity games, Agnes Irwin and Episcopal held a free youth lacrosse clinic. Over 60 student-athletes attended the clinic.

“Every year, the Checking for Cancer tournament brings together the entire lacrosse community and this year, it really brought our two schools, Episcopal Academy and Agnes Irwin, together,” said Tomaino. “We have such an intense rivalry and I think this was a great way for us to play for something even bigger.”

This year, the Checking for Cancer invitational was especially meaningful for coach Tomaino. Last April, Tomaino’s husband Andrew received devastating news that he was diagnosed with the disease.

“While this was a certainly a difficult time for us, we were able to get through to the other side with the help of an incredible medical team and a strong support network of close family and friends,” said coach Tomanio. “This April, we are so happy to celebrate the good news of Andrew being cancer-free and it was also his birthday over the weekend!”

At the end of the day, both teams achieved a tremendous victory.

Looking Ahead: EA’s next league game will be at home against Springside Chestnut Hill Academy on April 16, 2018 at 4:45pm. AIS will play away at Notre Dame on April 17, 2018 at 3:30pm.