Manchester Valley beats Glenelg in OT for girls lacrosse regional title
Manchester Valley has had a simple mantra all season: “Row the boat,” an idea made popular by University of Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck.
The row-the-boat mentality focuses on remaining positive and resilient in the face of adversity. During the break before overtime of Monday’s Class 2A West Region I final against Glenelg, Mavericks coach Shelly Brezicki told her girls, “This is when we have to row harder. This is what Saturday practices, timed runs, all of that is for.”
Brezicki added: “Possession is key, but more important than that is staying focused and staying in the plan of what we want to do here.”
The No. 6 Mavericks won the overtime draw to get that possession, during which senior midfielder Erin Herrold earned Manchester Valley an 8-meter opportunity.
The senior drove toward the goal and fended off multiple Glenelg defenders, tucking the shot past goalie Emily Altshuler. Herrold immediately threw her arms in jubilation as top-seed Manchester Valley finished off a 10-9 overtime victory over No. 7 Glenelg to capture the region title.
“I was on the line and I just went for it,” Herrold said. “I said, ‘This is mine, I have to go in and get it.’ This is the only thing that matters right now. It felt unreal after, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.
In a back-and-forth game, Manchester Valley (16-0) found itself trailing by a goal with less than three minutes remaining. Needing a big play, sophomore midfielder Emma Penczek stepped up when her team needed it most. With the Gladiators (14-3) face-guarding her, Penczek popped out and cut toward the middle and finished a feed from Casey Meredith for her team-high fifth goal of the evening; she also had two assists.
Then it was Herrold’s time to stand out, scoring the Mavericks’ sixth 8-meter goal of the evening, moving them one step closer to capturing a state title.
“We were all crying,” she said. “It was really emotional.”
Other girls lacrosse scores:
Liberty 13, South Carroll 7: The No. 8 Lions defeated the No. 15 Cavaliers to clinch their third straight regional title. Coach Tom Brandel was impressed with his girls’ execution of the game plan after a great week of rest and practice after earning byes into the region final.
“We worked hard all week in practice,” he said. “The girls were all on the same page and executed the way we wanted to.”
Six Lions scored in Monday’s win. Riley Matthiesen, who scored five goals, credited the scoring explosion to the unselfish culture of the back-to-back state champions.
“We are a team who wants everyone to succeed,” she said. “We’re not ball hogs. We share the ball and I think we came out and ran through all of our plays correctly.”
— Timothy Dashiell
Catonsville 2 2 , City 1
Eastern Tech 1 9, Patapsco 2 Towson 1 3 , Bel Air 4
Broadneck 1 5 , South River 6 Fallston 1 5 , Harford Tech 1 2 Westminster 1 5 , Mt. Hebron 8 North County 9, Old Mill 4
Severna Park 1 1 , Chesapeake-AA 3
Boys lacrosse
Fallston 11, Patterson Mill 5: With only seven miles separating Fallston and Patterson Mill high schools, it’s natural for a rivalry to exist. Mix in two straight regional championship meetings and it gets taken to another level.
While the Patterson Mill boys lacrosse team narrowed the gap between it and Fallston from a year ago, it still wasn’t enough to wrestle the regional title away from the Cougars. Timely momentum swings and a strong fourth quarter carried No. 14 Fallston to an 11-5 win in the Class 1A East Region I final.
“This meant a lot,” said Fallston’s Lucas Hurlburt, who had a hat trick. “The rivalry, you can say, has happened for the past three years. It’s good to win again and win backto-back and get another region for the team, for the school.”
After winning a state title as a sophomore and falling short in the final last year, senior Quinn McLaughlin is looking to end his high school career back on top, and beating a rival on the way there is a nice touch.
“This means everything to me,” said McLaughlin, who finished with four goals and two assists. “As a senior, we just want to get back to states.”
— Anthony Maluso
Liberty 11, South Caroll 9: The Lions boys used a 5-0 third-quarter run and powered through to a victory and their second straight regional championship.
“We knew with South Carroll, it doesn’t matter what you do in county or what are you doing against the rest of the state, when we play them it’s always going to be battle,” coach Steve Fabian said.
Tied at 6 at the half, the Lions didn’t flinch, going on a game-clinching run that not only showcased some aggressive offense but showed the importance of having a top goalie on your side during the playoffs.
Jack Mancha was brilliant during the run, anchoring a defense with confidence and in command as they held the Cavaliers scoreless for almost the entire third quarter.
“We were a team,” said Mancha, who finished with 13 saves. “We were communicating. We talked on defense and didn’t take dumb shots on offense.”
Three of the five third-quarter goals came
from senior Aiden Ventura, who finished with a game-high four goals.
— Timothy Dashiell
North County 14, Glen Burnie 8: North County coach Dennis Sullivan wasn’t sure what would happen after his team graduated 11 seniors last year. He certainly didn’t believe they’d get to this point; neither did his players.
But over time, the team of mostly sophomores on down took little steps forward, enough so that by Monday evening, they walked enough to reach their unexpected destination.
In a chaotic battle with neighbor Glen Burnie, North County demonstrated its growth in a 14-8 win for its second straight Class 4A East Region I title after a 30-year drought.
This win, Sullivan said, was not only for the players but for the alumni screaming in the stands. He asked them to come on the promise they’d reward their attendance. As the coach placed the plaque in the overjoyed Knights’ hands, Sullivan told his team that they just became immortal.
“Ninety percent of it was, we wanted this game more than anything,” Sullivan said. “These guys stepped up exactly as we asked them to and it’s fantastic. I’m over the moon.”
— Katherine Fominykh
Southern 1 4 , Lackey 2
Severna Park 2 3 , Chesapeake-AA 0 Broadneck 1 0 , South River 8
Mt. Hebron 1 2 , Howard 6
Softball
Patterson Mill 8, Fallston 2: Wild Huskies are known for being good hunters. Maybe the Patterson Mill softball team has adopted more than just a mascot from the famous dogs.
Monday, the softball Huskies did their share of hunting, too, getting to visiting Fallston pitcher Maddy Burns for eight hits and seven runs in an 8-2 win in the Class 1A South Region I semifinals.
“In the past, we were always the ones who were hunted,” Huskies coach Jeff Horton said. “We made it our mantra this year that we are going to be the ones doing the hunting.”
Savannah Reedy led the No. 10 Huskies (16-3), going 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Abbie Eubank led the Cougars (13-7) with two hits and an RBI.
Second-seeded Patterson Mill advances to Wednesday’s regional final, where they will host No. 5 Perryville, which upset top-seeded Bohemia Manor in the other semifinal.
— Mike Frainie, for Baltimore Sun Media
Harford Tech 7, North Harford 6: Harford Tech saw its six-run lead slip through its fingers like beach sand over the course of five innings. Five runs in the first and a sixth in the second built a lead that had spectators contemplating how — not when — the Cobras would cross into mercy-rule territory.
North Harford slowly rallied back behind two-run innings in the third, sixth and seventh.
The Hawks tied the game at 6 in the top of the seventh on an RBI single to right field from pitcher Ashlie McMillan. The throw home made it in time but shortstop Abby Buckland pirouetted beyond the catcher’s outstretched glove to safely touch home plate.
Her coach, bewildered, spent the break between innings reenacting the motion with her assistant.
Harford Tech’s bats had gone cold after its explosive start, rifling through its entire order in the first inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, senior Lillie Uttenreither stepped up to the plate.
“I called timeout before her at-bat,” Cobras coach Brian Reider said. “[I wanted to] get her focused so she could square up a ball. I came over and said, ‘Lillie, you’re a senior. I just want you to be prepared for when your whole team comes up off the bench and jumps on you for hitting the game-winner.’ ”
Reider didn’t tell her in their brief pre-atbat meeting to swing on the first pitch — but she did. Her swing lofted the ball deep over the right fielder’s head, scoring the winning run, 7-6, and advancing Harford Tech to the Class 2A East Region I final against Rising Sun on Wednesday.
— Sam Cohn
Reservoir 1 0 , River Hill 0
Dulaney 6 , Catonsville 0
Bel Air 1 5 , Kenwood 0 Manchester Valley 8 , Mt. Hebron 1 Old Mill 7, Severna Park 6 Northeast-AA 1 2 , Winters Mill 0 Century 1 9, Southern-AA 0 Broadneck 9, South River 1 Marriotts Ridge 1 5 , Westminster 1 Wilde Lake 1 1 , Long Reach 5 Carver A&T 1 0 , Lansdowne 0
Baseball
North East 9, North Harford 7 Gerstell 9, St. John’s Catholic Prep 2 Indian Creek 8 , Severn 0
Fallston 3 , Elkton 0
Glen Burnie 1 1 , Arundel 4
Glenelg Country 5 , Annapolis Area Christian 1
C. Milton Wright 1 4 , Bel Air 1 3
South River 3 , Broadneck 2
Spalding 7, John Carroll 4