Kerr delivers title for Seahawks
South River wins 3rd straight region crown
Caroline Kerr wasn’t the leading goalscorer for the South River field hockey team during the regular season.
Come playoff time, she’s been the most clutch.
After scoring the go-ahead goal late in the second half of Monday’s victory over Broadneck, Kerr broke a scoreless tie midway through the second half and led the No. 5 Seahawks to a 2-1 victory over No. 9 Arundel on Wednesday in the Class 4A East Region final.
South River (14-3) won its third straight region title and ninth overall.
“It seems in the past few years to have come out in the playoffs,” said Kerr, who also scored a goal in last year’s state-final victory over Dulaney. “I think it’s just an adrenaline rush, so I’m glad it comes out when it does.”
South River added a second goal with 3:26 left in the game when Tommi Bresnahan scored on a play started by McKenzie Jamison, but the Wildcats refused to go away and cut into the lead in the final minutes on a goal from Katie Keane. Arundel (11-5) had a few more chances off penalty corners in the final minutes before the Seahawks earned one last clear for the victory.
South River will play in a state semifinal on Monday at 5 p.m. at Paint Branch High School. The Seahawks are gunning for South River celebrates after scoring a goal during the Class 4A East Region field hockey final against Arundel. their third straight state title and fourth since 2012.
“The way the state has our sections set up, it’s anybody’s game and anybody can win on any given day,” South River coach Megan Atkinson said. “Going into the second half when it’s 0-0, it was still anybody’s game. The fact that we were able to jump out and get those two goals in the later half of the second half was really big for us.”
Wednesday’s game was nothing like the 4-3 game the teams played on Oct. 13. The chances were few for both, while when called upon Arundel’s Tia Lysse and South River’s Kaitlyn Wallace stood tall in goal.
South River’s second goal was set up by Jamison, who played one of the strongest games defensively on either side. She took possession of the ball and fired it toward the cage and allowed Bresnahan to secure it and sneak it in for the 2-0 lead.
“We definitely stepped up our defensive pressure, and we knew we had to keep our offensive pressure on the whole game,” Jamison said. “It definitely means a lot stepping up and helping the team get another goal.”
Wallace stopped four shots for the Seahawks, including one on a hard drive at the seven-minute mark of the second half when South River was still clinging to a 1-0 lead.
“You’re going into these games as a two-time defending champion, so everybody wants to beat you,” Atkinson said. “We want to win just as badly. We’ve got two more games to go.”
Lysse was strong again and stopped seven shots for Arundel, which had one of its best seasons in recent memory, which included a victory over Notre Dame Prep of the IAAM A Conference.
“I just don’t think we were able to play our game, and kudos to South River,” Arundel coach Carrie Vosburg said. “They obviously played their game and took us out of our game. Overall, we had an amazing season. I give it all to the kids. We took a whole new mental aspect this year, and they all bought in.”