Seahawks take care of business in semifinal

South River focuses on its game, moving on against outmatched opponent

GAITHERSBURG — For the South River girls lacrosse team, it doesn’t matter if it's a rivalry game like the region final against Severna Park or a state semifinal against an unfamiliar opponent, the No. 10 Seahawks are only worried about themselves.

That strategy served them well as they dismantled Eleanor Roosevelt, 20-0, in a Class 4A state semifinal to advance to the state final in search of their first state title since 2010.

“Our focus is South River lacrosse when we go out on the field,” South River coach Caroline Cochran said. “It doesn’t matter who we are playing.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the rivals of Severna Park or in the semifinals against a team we haven’t even seen before. We have to do the things we focus on in practice and that we talk about every single day.”

Madeline Cloyd started the scoring by ripping one into the top of the net just 33 seconds into the game and the Seahawks doubled their lead just 20 seconds later when Lauren Zinkl took a pass from Alexis Grant and rifled it past the Raiders’ keeper.

Cloyd finished with two goals and two assists while Zinkl had a pair of goals.

“We’ve been focusing on a new offense that’s really been working for us, and we just wanted to make sure it was state championship ready,” Cloyd said. “So going into this game we wanted to focus on that and perfect it.”

South River kept the pressure on and got up 5-0 in less than three minutes played, pulling away for a 13-0 halftime lead.

Eleanor Roosevelt did not cross the midfield line until early in the second half.

“The focus the whole year has been to play South River lacrosse,” Zinkl said. “That’s what we have been preaching this whole year; so that’s what we were trying to do. Just work on us, practice what we know how to do and play how we know how to play.”

For Eleanor Roosevelt, a team only in its third year and appearing in its first state semifinal, valuable experience was gained from competing against the Seahawks, not only from how to play a team game but in sportsmanship as well.

“They were great,” Eleanor Roosevelt head coach Charles Mills said. “The girls said they were great on the field, the sportsmanship was top notch, one of the best I’ve seen this year and when the girls come back and say how nice the other team was and they are talking to us, it’s always pleasant to hear that about another team.”

South River awaits the winner of the other state semifinal between Walt Whitman and Dulaney scheduled to be played Saturday with the winners facing off at Stevenson University.

For South River, the opponent won’t matter because their focus will be on playing Seahawk lacrosse.