Seahawks, Falcons on top
South River girls, Severna Park boys claim Anne Arundel lacrosse crowns
As the top seeds in their respective sections of the Class 4AEastRegionplayoffs, the South River and Severna Park girls lacrosse teams could meet again with their seasons on the line.
On Monday, the teams met in the county championship game just six days after the Falcons won the teams’ regular-season meeting by a goal on their way to the regularseason county title.
Kathleen Sullivan scored three goals and the No. 12 Seahawks turned in an impressive defensive effort in an 11-5 victory over No. 10 Severna Park onMondayintheAnneArundel County championship game at Old Mill.
South River (13-2) gave up the game’s first two goals, but held the Falcons scoreless for nearly 16 minutes and took the lead for good.
“Thefirst time weplayed them, wejust had a slow start and didn’t really pick it up,” Sullivan said. “Coming into this game, we knew we had to have the pedal to the medal the whole time and we just clicked really well today.”
It wasanother slow start for South River on Monday as the Falcons took a 2-0 lead on goals from Rachel Spilker and Kayla Minton in the first nine minutes. Just a minute later, a Falcons’ shot went off a post and the Seahawks finally got on the board with 12:39 left in the first half on a goal from Bronwyn Patterson. Alexis Grant went high three minutes later to tie the game, then the Seahawks went ahead for good when Madeline Cloyd stayed patient and scored with 5:23 left to give South River a 3-2 lead.
Meanwhile, the South River defense kept Severna Park (10-5) off the board and added goals from Madeline Lenkart and Sullivan to go up 5-2. The Falcons finally broke the drought with a goal in the final minute of the half to cut the deficit to 5-3.
“Our defense was the MVPs tonight in this game,” South River coach Caroline Cochran said. “They were coming up with big turnovers and playing together as a unit, which is what we’ve been practicing the last few weeks and it finally came together.”
Grant had two goals and an assist, Cloyd had a pair of goals and Patterson, Lenkart, Kelsey Winters (two assists) and Lauren Zinkl (assist) each added goals. Carly Mansur stopped five shots for the Seahawks, who have a bye in the first round of the playoffs and will host the Annapolis-North Point winner on Friday.
“In the playoffs, it’s a brand new season,” Cochran said. “This definitely boosts our confidence.”
Boys lacrosse
NO. 10 SEVERNAPARK9, BROADNECK7: It was strange to see Severna Park’s potent offense shut down for almost the entire first half. Broadneck did a superb job of playing keepaway while the favored Falcons were off South River celebrates its 11-5 victory against Severna Park. The Seahawks gave up the game’s first two goals, but held the Falcons scoreless for nearly 16 minutes and took the lead for good. Severna Park’s Josh Coffman, right, defends Broadneck’s Carter Hall in the first half of the Falcons’ 9-7 win in the Anne Arundel County championship game. target with their shots in being held scoreless for more than 20 minutes.
However, a couple penalties on the Bruins gave the Falcons life and a three-goal run jump-started another victory in the Anne Arundel County championship game.
Senior midfielder Chase Cope scored three goals while senior attackman Jack Thomas totaled twogoals and anassist as Severna Park beat archrival Broadneck, 9-7, to capture its 13th county championship since 1998.
Sophomore attackman Michael Harmeyer scored two goals while senior midfielder Josh Coffman contributed a goal and an assist for Severna Park (12-2), whichhasnowwonthree straight county crowns. Goalkeeper Shane Carr anchored a solid defensive effort for the Falcons, who shut out the Bruins in the second quarter then held them to one goal in the fourth.
Junior attackman Keegan Houser scored two goals and assisted another to lead Broadneck (10-5), which was seeking its first county championship since 2001.