Way to Go Senora Edwards-Bourdrez and Portledge Athletes/ Ceremony to Honor Fine Educator and Play of Varsity Girls Soccer Highlight Founders Day

This past Saturday Portledge celebrated its Founders Day and 25 years of service by Spanish teacher and Middle School Dean Susan Edwards-Bourdrez. It has been a true pleasure to work with Senora Edwards-Bourdrez during my own twenty years at Portledge School. She is a model of professionalism, a tremendous leader among the faculty and someone who has always been supportive of the true values and ideals of independent school education. We congratulate Senora Edwards-Bourdrez on this celebration of her service, and wish her the best during what are hopefully many years to come at Portledge School.

The weather certainly cooperated with the full schedule of events during this Founders Day at Portledge. The sky was a royal blue, the sun golden and warming, and the slight breeze cooling and refreshing. Under these optimal conditions Portledge athletes played soccer, tennis and ran the cross country trails. While it would have been great to replace the 2-2 tie in Varsity Boys Soccer game with a win, there is still so much to celebrate from this fine day. Special thanks go out to Mr. Henry Stay and Dr. David Sarles who orchestrated and ran the Tennis and Cross Country events, respectively. These competitions were a great addition to Founders Day and we would not been able to pull them off without the contributions of these two wonderful gentlemen. So thanks guys and good luck with your teams as the fall athletic season goes on.

The highlight of the day has to be the exceptional play of the Varsity Girls Soccer team. Over the last few years a great rivalry has evolved between the Portledge and LWA girls soccer players. This rivalry is based on respect for one another built through some incredible games. In fact only one of the previous eight meetings between these two sides has been decided by more than one goal and that was a 3-1 win by the LWA girls at last year's Founders Day game. All of this makes Saturday's incredible 7-0 result all that much more amazing. LWA entered the game coming off of a thrilling 3-3 comeback tie v. LuHi and were looking to make an early positive statement in the PSAA Girls Soccer league. The Lady Panthers were ready though, as they took total control of the game early on, and never let LWA get going. Attacking with equal ferocity down both flanks the Portledge girls peppered the LWA box with one accurate cross after another. After a few nice saves by the Tiger's keeper, an Ashley Wade cross found the foot of Junior striker Mo Kelly, and Kelly's one timer made it 1-0 Portledge. Moments later captain Alex Siwiec made one of her patented runs out of the midfield and after breaking free down the left side sent a beautifully weighted ball to the other striker, Junior Addie Reilly. Ahead by two Coach Coope looked to his bench for even more spark and sent on super sub Alex Devivo. Within moments Devivo was off like a rocket down the right sideline. Her whistled cross found Reilly in front of the net and the strikers deflection made it a three goal lead for Portledge. Reilly then went on to put her own stamp on the game with two great displays of individual dribbling and shooting. Once just before half, and then again right after the break, she slipped in and around the LWA defense and deposited well aimed strikes into the Tiger's goal. Reilly's goals made 5-0 and put the game out of reach. The Lady Panthers added two late goals to illustrate their total control of the game. Special shout outs should also go to Junior midfielders Natalie Flammia and Claudia Rogers who played just behind Siwiec and totally controlled the middle of the pitch. No rest for the weary as the girls have a huge HOME game v. LuHi on Tuesday.

As stated earlier, the Varsity Boys team tied the LWA boys 2-2. The Panthers trailed by one twice during this hard fought contest-coming back in the last few minutes to achieve the final result. Once again Senior striker Trevor Wolfson paced the Panthers with some incredible individual efforts. His first goal was truly amazing as he outraced the entire LWA defense to a loose ball before drilling into the back of the net. Comebacks aside, the Portledge Boys Soccer team needs to get some wins against the other top teams in the league if they hope to earn an automatic spot in the state tournament, much less earn a home playoff spot in the IPPSAL Championships. A great start would be a convincing win tomorrow over Lu Hi on the road.

So much other fun stuff took place Saturday that it's almost overwhelming to try and describe it all. Both the JV Girls & their Dads v. the JV Boys and their Moms game, and the Alumni v. Faculty, games were entertaining and spirited. While it was rumored that the faculty brought in some ringers, that is false, as Mr. Davis, Mr. Juste Mr. Mott and Mr. George are all current Portledge parents. So better luck next year alums!

This was a great day......thanks again to everyone, especially Tara Askeland, whose calm demeanor and precision planning made everything run very smoothly.