SCRANTON, Pa. - The Catholic women's lacrosse team traveled to No. 13 Scranton on Saturday afternoon for their 18th consecutive Landmark Conference Championship. The Cardinals battled for the duration of the match, but fell to the Royals 16-11 on Weiss Field.
Team draw control leader,
Tori Wilsey earned the first draw to start the championship match. Scranton opened the scoring early in the first quarter with a goal from Jillian Lopez. Wilsey later put the Cardinals on the board, scoring during their first free position attempt. The Royals quickly answered with a goal from Natalie Paul, followed by a second from Lopez.
Henley Bredemann then found the back of the net to keep the game neck-and-neck. The Cardinals trailed 3-2 heading into the second quarter.
Scranton got into a groove in the second, adding four goals to their total early on. They tried to hold the Cardinals off, but Bredemann added her second of the game to keep them close by. The Royals answered with two goals as time ticked down in the first half, but
Izzy Fiore added another for the Cardinals, assisted by Wilsey. Scranton led 9-4 heading into the break.
Early in the second half, the Royals capitalized on a man-up situation to net their 10th goal, scored by Alexandra Back. Fiore responded, scoring her second in favor of Catholic, cutting the deficit to three. The Royals added two more goals in the third, maintaining a five goal advantage heading into the final quarter.
Both teams were scoreless for nearly five minutes into the fourth. It was
Ellie Verrill who broke through first for the Cardinals, then Wilsey followed with her second goal of the game.
Annie Galarza earned the assist on both goals.
Scranton then netted two, but Catholic continued to fight back, with goals from Fiore and
Maddie McDevitt. The Royals capped the game with one last goal, with under a minute left, securing the championship victory.
Fiore led the pack with four goals in the game, bringing her season total to 39. She also logged two caused turnovers and three ground balls in the meeting. Bredemann followed with her 11th hat trick of the season. Her 44 goals place her at eighth in the Landmark in goals scored this season.
Wilsey had two goals and an assist in the game for three points and tied her career-high nine draw controls. She finishes her senior season with 64 draw controls, landing eighth in the conference.
Grace Button led with three caused turnovers against the Royals and scooped up three ground balls.
Kelly Bunnick had two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Button and Bunnick finish the season tied atop the caused turnover leaderboard with 25 apiece. Button led the squad with 42 ground balls in her senior season while Bunnick finished second with 31.
In goal,
Olivia Koch had eight saves. She finished her debut season with 62 saves and a record of 3-3.
The Cardinals conclude their 2026 campaign with an overall record of 11-8 and a Landmark Conference record of 8-1.
