Severn goes to 11 in the second half
Admirals score 11 goals over that span to top John Carroll
With one of its most esteemed graduates in attendance, Severn boys lacrosse couldn’t give up. Victory stood on the other side of the half, all the Admirals had to do was reach it.
Severn piled 11 goals on visiting John Carroll in the second half to rally for a 16-10 win Friday at the newly christened Barbour Family Stadium.
“It definitely showed a lot of toughness from us,” said junior Jacob Todd, who recorded four goals and four assists, “not hanging our heads, coming out with a new game in the second half.”
Sandy Barbour, who served as Penn State’s athletics director for eight years before announcing her retirement recently, was on hand watching her alma mater triumph. Severn School dedicated its turf fields to Barbour and her family at halftime.
After graduating from the Severn School in 1977, Barbour went on to play two sports for Wake Forest, coach lacrosse and field hockey at Northwestern and serve in two athletic director jobs and one assistant athletic director role at Tulane, California-Berkley and Notre Dame, respectively. She took on the athletic director role for the Nittany Lions in 2014. Penn State captured or shared 31 Big Ten regular season and tournament titles as well as 34 individual NCAA titles during Barbour’s tenure, a testament to her oversight. She was inducted into the Severn School Hall of Fame in 1987.
But on Friday, the 62-year-old Annapolis native was brought back to her youth as she was given gifts from three athletes from tennis, basketball and field hockey — the three sports she played at Severn.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunities I had, but to know because of my family’s gift that more girls and women will be able to have opportunities,” Barbour said, “it’s very gratifying.”
The entire girls lacrosse team took pictures
with Barbour before the new “Barbour Family Stadium” sign at the corner of the turf fields, then the boys. The boys couldn’t contain their grins after their day.
Todd was one of them. His second goal marked a turn in the game, while his third was just plain beautiful: a fadeaway, back on the ground, legs flailing in the air while his teammates erupted around him kind of goal.
“We were playing more team offense, moving the ball quicker, attacking short sticks,”
Todd said. “Everybody worked together to make it work.”
All of Todd’s four goals came in the second half and couldn’t have happened if Severn hadn’t adjusted its offense and its defense. For a while, Severn could win faceoffs but couldn’t do much else.
The Admirals’ first shots on goalkeeper Alex Stewart and his defenders bounced off like rain on asphalt. The Patriots gobbled up rebounds, quickly converting them into three goals in a few minutes without meeting much resistance.
On the Admirals’ fourth X victory, Severn finally capitalized — a sharp strike from sophomore Chase Hallam.
It was one immediately answered by John Carroll, but it put the visitors on notice. Severn senior Paul Baldwin had yet to play in a game this spring, just recovering from a hamstring injury, but you wouldn’t know it. He descended on the John Carroll goal without mercy, flashing two goals and breaking down the deficit to a goal, 4-3, midway through the quarter.
Accuracy continued to hamper Severn’s efforts. The opportunities came and the Admirals air-balled them over the top bar. On the other end, the defense improved immensely — but the Patriots attack just didn’t give up, scoring yet again.
But this would not spark another John Carroll run.
Baldwin, certainly feeling healthy, cut through Stewart’s stalwart defenses to make it 5-4 in the second. Inspired, his teammate, Tanner Huber collected another Severn faceoff win and deposited it to tie the game at 5, where it remained at the half.