Severna Park shuts down Arundel as rivals clash
Before Severna Park field hockey begins each game, they work on manifesting.
On Monday prior to taking on Arundel, the Falcons laid down in a circle, closed their eyes and spoke their goals into existence: all the things they wanted to accomplish on the Wildcats’ turf. It’s serious business — Severna Park names a different visualization leader for each pre-game session.
It’s very spiritual, coach Shannon Garden said, and she added that she wouldn’t be surprised if some of her girls were carrying intentional crystals as they ran toward their third victory in two weeks.
Arundel could hardly breach the Falcons’ defensive back wall as the Wildcats fell victim to their county rivals in a 2-0 shutout.
“I do think they got in there a couple times, but I want to credit my defense. I just thought they played so beautifully well,” Garden said. “Caught a couple corners there in the end, which I think they cleaned up really well. But we have some of our best talent on our defense line.”
A lot of that stalwart defense has roots in an equally strong mental state, senior defender Zoe Day said. During those pre-game visualizations, the team talks about only positives.
“It gets us in the right mindset to play,” Day said.
Two weeks in, the Falcons (3-0) — and Wildcats (0-2) — are still experiencing the strange growing pains of entering the first true fall season since 2019. But seeing unbeaten Severna Park’s performance thus far, Garden knows her team will be “in the mix for the long haul.” Getting the chance to put every player on the field, as the Falcons did on Monday, will only serve to make the team deeper.
“If we can all stay healthy and work on these little things,” Garden said. “…We see these glimpses of just brilliant hockey and sometimes we’re like, ‘Where did that come from?’ ”
Garden especially credited Day, junior goalkeeper Charlotte Kramer, junior Meredith Schepens — moved from midfield — and senior Emily Lamoreaux, who’d missed time with a concussion. That combination, all present and healthy and “ready to roll,” honed Severna Park’s defensive prowess like a whetstone.
“They are the anchor. They are the voices,” Garden said. “They understand high-pressure games, high-pressure situations, the flow of the game. They just have that kind of situational awareness, where the game is going, how the tempo is going.”
Day said the backfield matured together during the unusual spring season. With only one senior lost
to graduation, they knew then they’d be essential in the coming 2021 fall competition.
“I feel like our team got to bond more, know our strengths,” Day said. “We really meshed in this game. Everything we’ve been working on at practice has come together — the defenders wouldn’t be able to do it without the attackers, the attackers wouldn’t be able to do it without the defenders.”
With defense putting an authoritarian lock on Arundel, Severna Park’s offense got to work.
Junior Ava Drexler-Amey didn’t take long to strike. She’d already shown her ferocity in the fourweek “fall” season several months back, and early in the game on Monday, the midfielder took advantage of a hole in the Arundel backfield and hit the opening goal for the Falcons.
Severna Park’s offense didn’t ease off then. Ten minutes later, senior forward Sydney Rowe lured two Wildcats out towards her and slipped the ball straight through them and through senior goalkeeper Savannah Brooks, who could only watch as Rowe’s shot slammed the back of the cage and gave the Falcons a 2-0 edge just before the end of the first quarter.
The Wildcats are “green,” Arundel coach Carrie Vosburg said after graduating seven starters. Though many of this year’s players have been on the roster, they don’t carry a ton of game experience.
“Compared to last week to this week, we really talked about our press and being patient on defense,” Vosburg said. “I think that’s what we did a really good job of tonight. Severna Park moved the ball well out and wide, and we did a better job as the night went on of anticipating that.”
Arundel’s defense sealed its gaps in the second quarter and on, making it harder than it already had been for the Falcons to sniff out opportunities — and easier for Arundel to get their own.
Still, with six corners awarded to the Wildcats in the latter two quarters, Arundel could not capitalize. It didn’t help, either, that the Wildcats played man-down in part of the closing minutes.
Granted, the Falcons also gameplanned exactly how to keep the Wildcats from taking good looks. Defenders hounded Arundel senior Lana Hamilton, but Severna Park also put the focus on nipping Arundel’s momentum before it reached the circle.
Vosburg said the only thing that matters for now, however, is getting better each game.
“We’re about player development. We’ve got some stud athletes on our forward line,” Vosburg said. “We’ve just got to get the skills there. I’m confident by the end of October, they will be.”