’Hawks draw away from rival, soak up region title
South River secures seventh straight trip to state semis
Kathleen Sullivan’s five goals over the first 33 minutes of Wednesday’s Class 4A East Region final against No. 12 Severna Park gave the No. 10 South River girls lacrosse team a comfortable lead.
Perhaps her more important contributions came in the game’s final minutes.
After the Falcons had rallied to turn a six-goal deficit to one, Sulllivan scored an insurance goal and won a late draw and helped the Seahawks hang on for an 8-6 victory.
South River (16-2) won its seventh region title and first since 2010. The Seahawks will play in the state semifinals Friday or Saturday at Gaithersburg High School and are shooting for their second state crown.
“The draws are crucial because every time we play them it’s always around 50-50 on the draws,” said Sullivan, who finished with a team-high six goals. “We were working really hard to get things happening and it ended up coming up our way.”
Sullivan scored three goals in the first South River's Kathleen Sullivan, who scored six goals, tries to slip between a pair of Severna Park defenders during Wednesday’s Class 4A East Region final at Severna Park.
half and scored twice in the first eight minutes of the second to give the Seahawks a 7-1 lead. The Falcons responded, though, and after five goals in a 10-minute span the lead was just 7-6. The Seahawks won the ensuing draw following the Falcons’ sixth goal and Sullivan scored at the 5:31 mark to push the lead back to two. She capped off her big game by winning the next draw and the Seahawks held the ball the rest of the game to wrap up the victory.
“She (Sullivan) stepped up today,” South River coach Caroline Cochran said. “She took the draw for us. She came out with some great goals when we needed them and they were in clutch situations. It got really close in the second half.”
Madeline Cloyd opening the scoring and Alexis Grant scored the other goal for the Seahawks, who will enter the state semifinals on a five-game winning streak and have won eight of nine.
Kelsey Winters had a pair of assists, Madeline Lenkart added an assist and Sullivan won three draws and caused a turnover.
Carly Mansur recorded three saves before getting lifted for Jordan Vincent following the fifth Severna Park goal. Vincent played the rest of the game and finished with four saves.
“It’s scary, but it also can pump up the defense,” said Cochran, on the goalie switch.
South River won the Class 4A-3A state title in 2010 under Kim McNemar. Since then, Severna Park has won four state titles and Broadneck won the other representing the county. Bel Air, last year’s 4A-3A state champion, is in the Class 3A this year, while Dulaney, which won the 4A-3A title in 2016, won the Class 4A North Region.
The region title is the first for Cochran as head coach of the Seahawks.
“We’re really excited to move forward at this point,” Cochran said. “I was nervous all day long, and to come away with the win after a nailbiter at the end was really exciting.”
Kate Bray, Kayla Minton, Maddy Brady, Hunter Chadwick, Chloe MacDonald and Rachel Spilker scored the goals for the Falcons, who finished the season 12-6 after starting 1-3.
“South River is always a big game and it’s great competition,” Severna Park coach Kaitlyn Hines said. “I’m proud of the way we were able to battle back.”