Agnes Irwin, Episcopal Academy share The Banner

It seems like yesterday that Episcopal Academy Athletic Director Gina Buggy and Agnes Irwin Athletic Director Sheila Pauley found a way to incorporate their respective schools into EA/Haverford Day.
For nearly 100 years, EA and Haverford School have been competing for “The Sweater” with Buggy and Pauley looking for a way to incorporate the girls into the athletic competition.
In addition to competing in athletic events, the AIS/EA/Haverford weekend bring the three schools together to work hand in hand in and out of the athletic arena.
“The entire school community comes together through service projects, spirit events including pep rallies and of course the athletic contests,” Pauley said. “The student-athletes give their best efforts in front of a very spirited crowd of parents, friends, and alums. “
On Nov. 13, the schools celebrated its 11th year in which the schools compete against each other in tennis, x-country, field hockey and soccer to see who takes possession of “The Banner” for the calendar year.
With the teams competing in four events, Agnes Irwin entered the day hoping to regain possession of ‘The Banner’ that has resided at Episcopal Academy since last fall. In the result the two schools split the four athletic events, ‘The Banner’ would be shared with each school retaining possession for six months.
Agnes Irwin opened the competition registering a 25-34 victory in x-country before EA tennis evened the competition with a 6-1 win.
With two events in the book, the capacity crowd made their way over to the soccer match. Other than pride, EA was looking to complete a perfect run through the Inter-Ac while Agnes Irwin was looking for a consolation prize on a season that has been riddled with injuries.
Thanks to a pair of goals late in the first half, Agnes Irwin held off a late EA charge to register a 2-1 victory and give the Owls a leg up on once again possessing ‘The Banner’
Similar to soccer, the EA field hockey team was looking to complete a perfect run through the Inter-Ac and win the league title outright. With the game taking center stage, Agnes Irwin got o the board first early in the first half but after that Episcopal took control with the Churchwomen registering a 7-2 win completing a perfect regular season for EA (19-0 overall: 10-0 Inter-Ac).
Buggy said, “It was an electric atmosphere at The Episcopal Academy on Friday night November 13th. As the final event of the day, the field hockey team was inspired to play hard in front of the large crowd of spectators. Unselfish play, and dynamic passing combinations lead to numerous scoring opportunities for the EA team. We always have competitive games with AIS and I think both schools really love being part of the EA/AIS/HS weekend. The field hockey team relished the opportunity to perform well for the crowd in an effort to preserve their undefeated regular season record. All season the emphasis has been on playing hard together as a team; on defense, in transition and on attack. This mentality served us well on Friday night, as we needed to perform at this level in order to beat a strong Agnes Irwin team. Our seniors have done a terrific job of keeping everyone involved and focused all season. This type of leadership is invaluable to the success of a team.”
With Episcopal’s win, the two teams split the four events meaning ‘The Banner’ will reside at each school for six months.