Mercury All-Area: Goalie Korrigan Sweeney protects Owen J. Roberts girls lacrosse from potential crash, keeps Wildcats atop PAC

Korrigan Sweeney and her Owen J. Roberts girls lacrosse teammates needed to be reminded of how much they hated losing before they could become champions once again.

In 2023, defeats were in short supply; in 28 games, the Wildcats lost only a single one en route to their title-winning triple crown in the Pioneer Athletic Conference, District 1-3A and PIAA 3A. They not only won — they dominated the competition in consistently convincing fashion and became the first PAC lacrosse team to win a state title.

A junior on that squad, Sweeney was already a three-year starter at goalie by the time the historic run ended. She earned her stripes in the cage since she was a varsity freshman, helping guide the Wildcats to two PAC championship game appearances, a league title and two trips to the district quarterfinals through her first two high school seasons.

The 2023 campaign was a whole new animal, though. While Sweeney certainly held her own in goal, goaltending and defense were anything but the attention grabber for an OJR team that featured Division I-bound recruits all over the field — including three-time All-Americans and last year’s Mercury All-Area Co-Players of the Year Gabbi Koury and Alexa Vogelman.

Then, after that epic season concluded, the majority of those star players graduated and highly-successful head coach Dave Schlesinger stepped down. Most outsiders focused on all the team had lost rather than the returning talent still scattered about the program, namely Sweeney and a fierce defensive unit in front of her.

“It was definitely challenging losing so many great players,” Sweeney recounted. “I give so much credit to our team for never giving up or thinking less of ourselves. We put in so much work and in the end even with a lot of doubters on us, we showed them that we were still really good.”

While the heights of that 2023 season may never be replicated, the journey of this spring was perhaps just as rewarding. Despite finishing 2024 a more earthly 14-7 overall, the Wildcats still repeated as PAC champions, this time with an identity built on shutdown defense and smothering play in goal from their veteran keeper.

Once Sweeney and company reminded themselves what it was like to face adversity and then vault over it, they recaptured that championship aura, enough so to make her the choice for Mercury All-Area Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year.

“Coming into the season, we knew we were not as strong of a team, so I think losing helped us in the long run,” Sweeney said. “We remembered how much we hated losing, and I knew that I had to grow as a person and step up to take on that leadership role with so many brand new players. I saw that it was my team, and it helped my confidence grow on and off the field.”

With the season barely a week old, OJR started 1-2, already doubling the loss total from 2023. They were humbled in a 15-1 loss to eventual repeat PIAA 2A champion Archbishop Carroll, and lost one-goal games to PAC opponents Phoenixville and Boyertown, something that had happened less and less frequently over the preceding decade. The 11-10 heartbreaker to Boyertown on April 22 was OJR’s third consecutive defeat, dropping the team to 6-6 overall and plunging the Wildcats into now-or-never territory.

Then, they won the final six contests of the regular season in mostly dominant fashion, scoring at least 11 goals in every game while Sweeney averaged less than five goals allowed in that stretch. After yielding 11 goals to Boyertown in April, Sweeney allowed just five in a 9-5 PAC semifinals win at Upper Merion before shutting down top-seeded Phoenixville two nights later in an 8-4 championship-clinching victory.

“I feel like we had all been in our own heads and not used to losing, so we had to overcome that and realize it’s a different team now, one that needed time to learn how to play together,” Sweeney said. “As the season went on, we figured it out and remembered how to win. It was hard, but we overcame it.”

Interim head coach Joe Youngblood, who stepped into the role when incoming coach Emily Considine stepped down in the preseason, was quite frank in how this season would have gone if not for Sweeney’s dependability.

“Without Korrigan in the cage, we would not have had the same chance to repeat,” he said. “Korrigan, in the final four and final, stood tall coming up with big saves when we needed them. There have always been questions of how good she was because of the talent in front of her. If you had the opportunity to see Korrigan play in person, especially in the PAC playoffs, you got to see firsthand how good she is.

“What Korrigan did in 2024 was more impressive individually than other years because at times she faced more shots. Korrigan also became more vocal and showed a level of confidence that helped elevate her level of play and the play of others around her. Our team was able to feed off of her big saves. Korrigan’s legacy is one of consistency and excellence.”

Although the Wildcats bowed out in the first round of districts in a 13-3 loss to Springfield-Delco, Sweeney recounted her senior season and career as a whole with immense pride. She allowed less than five goals per game in league play in 2024 and saved her best for the two most important games of the season. Sweeney ended her career with 535 career saves, three league titles, a district crown and a state championship while being named first team All-PAC twice.

“It was a hard season, and I’m very proud of that,” she said. “It was very special because it wasn’t handed to us. We had to fight every day to win, and looking back I’m very grateful for the experience. People always say ‘I wouldn’t change it for anything,’ but I really wouldn’t.

“The drive we had, it was very special. We never gave up and we never listened to the outside noise. Other teams may have thought they could win the PAC, but we knew in our hearts that we could do it again.”

Playing goalie in any sport is a difficult endeavor, but lacrosse requires some extra fortitude given the fact that the small, hard ball becomes more of a heat-seeking missile when fired at high speeds from point-blank range. Sweeney’s internal courage comes from a family of goalies, with mom Dawn a former field hockey goalie and dad Patrick having spent time between the posts on the ice. Her older sister, Mariah, was the family’s first lacrosse goalie who played at The Hill School and later the University of Michigan, and Korrigan quickly followed in those footsteps.

“I wouldn’t be who I am without my sister and the lessons she’s taught me,” Sweeney said. “My whole family taught me about the mental toughness you need as a goalie. It’s hard, and you can be in your head blaming yourself a lot of the time even when it’s not your fault. I’ve had to overcome that as much as I can. No one is perfect, and you’re not going to save every shot. There’s always going to be highs and lows. You’ll have a great game, and maybe the next one you’re awful. It’s kind of like how life is.”

Now that her supremely accomplished OJR lacrosse career is over, Sweeney is preparing for the excitement of the next chapter, one in which she will continue her lacrosse journey at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. While she said her present plan is to study business, Sweeney also classified herself as a creative person who loves English and would also like to explore something off-the-wall like zoology as a minor.

There are plenty of more heights for Sweeney to reach both between the posts and off the field, and she’s ready for whatever the future holds knowing full well that she left everything she had on the field in her four years in the OJR cage. It will never be the same as it was, but that’s just fine because she’s banked enough memories that will last a lifetime.

“I’ll miss the friendships I’ve made the most,” she said. “I grew up with these girls I played with in high school. I’ll miss our competitive spirit and the collective drive we all had to win. Being able to win a state title was huge, being able to play such an important game with my teammates and their energy by my side. The trust and love that we shared is something I’m going to miss a lot.”