Mary Swarthout was one of just four seniors on Good Counsel's roster this season.
Freshman Kelly Lechner had three goals, including two in the second half.
By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.comOne of the most enjoyable parts of this season for Good Counsel senior Mary Swarthout was to watch her team’s four freshmen, 11 sophomores and four juniors grow and gradually take the program into their own hands.
But when Good Counsel needed its senior in Tuesday’s Washington Catholic Athletic Conference finals at the University of Maryland, Swarthout was there.
Trailing by four goals in the first half, Swarthout scored two straight goals to start a five-goal Falcons run and added two goals and an assist in the second half to lead Good Counsel to an 11-8 win over Bishop Ireton and a fifth-straight WCAC tournament championship.
“She was tremendous,” Haight said of Swarthout. “In the biggest game of her career, she put her stamp on the program.”
What makes Good Counsel’s title even more noteworthy is that the team was essentially rebuilding this season and it still managed to extend the Falcons’ WCAC unbeaten streak to 48 games and take home the title.
“This year we wanted to be competitive and hopefully win the championship,” Haight said. “That’s what we’re looking for as we really built toward next year and hopefully get back in the national ranks next year. That’s our goal.”
Bishop Ireton seemed poised to capture the championship early on Tuesday. The Cardinals took a 4-0 lead on goals by Brittany Barnwell, Janet Tela, Julianne Tela and Chesney Hellmuth, respectively. Good Counsel freshman Kelly Lechner stopped the run with a goal at 13:30 before Janet Tela struck again to give the Cardinals a 5-1 lead with 11:52 left in the first half.
“We had to tell them, ‘No, this isn’t how it works,’” Good Counsel senior Kristen Oakey said of her words to the Falcons’ underclassmen. “’We’re winning this no matter what. We worked so hard all season. This is what it’s for. Keep going.’ … Once you get behind, it makes you want to work even harder.”
Good Counsel’s players and even Haight said there was some concern, but the team has become accustomed to slow starts this season.
“Oh man, I don’t know, I was really nervous,” Swarthout said. “But I knew we were going to pick it up. We had so much intensity going in there and in the end we pulled it together and I was so happy.”
Swarthout scored two minutes after Ireton took its 5-1 lead and she pushed across another goal at 4:50. Good Counsel scored five straight goals to take a halftime lead.
Ireton’s Allie Fife tied the game just one minute, 30 seconds into the second half before Swarthout gave the Falcons the lead for good, scoring at 17:00 and assisting freshman Brigid Smith on the next goal about six minutes later.
The Cardinals trimmed the lead to 8-7 with 8:34 remaining before Lechner scored two goals and Swarthout added one in a three-goal run by Good Counsel to seal the game.
The championships got harder as they went along, Swarthout said. During Swartout’s freshman season, the Falcons won the championship by 10 goals. Last year’s win over Holy Cross took overtime to settle.
“The last two years they’ve been really close and really exciting,” Swarthout said. “It’s fun to make it close. I like it, but it does make it nerve-racking.”