GIRLS LACROSSE
Falcons returns to top of region
Martel leads Severna Park past South River, 13-9
Order has been restored in more than one way for Anne Arundel County girls lacrosse.
When no team from the county qualified for the state semifinals last year, it marked the first time that occurred since the state tournament began in 1990. Coming off two straight state titles, Severna Park’s absence was also notable, but the Falcons made sure they didn’t go two straight years without advancing following Wednesday’s 13-9 victory over South River in the Class 4A/3A East Region final.
Mallory Martel had four goals and two assists to lead Severna Park, which hasn’t gone two straight years without a region title since a four-year stretch from 2002-2005.
“Our theme this year has been redemption, and we’re going to carry out that theme until we hopefully make it to states,” said Martel, who scored three of her goals in the first half to help the Falcons recover from an early deficit. “We have a lot of motives behind this. We want to redeem ourselves and we want to make sure we get that state title.”
Severna Park (16-2) will play the North region champion Montgomery Blair on Friday or Saturday at Gaithersburg High School. The Falcons, who’ve won 14 straight, won their 16th region title and fifth since 2011.
“Redemption fits very well, considering last year,” Severna Park coach Kaitlyn Hines said. “It’s a great feeling, and especially to do it on our home turf. They’re proud of themselves, too, for bringing it back here and getting the job done.”
The Falcons defeated the Seahawks by 10 goals in the teams’ regular-season meeting, but the Seahawks weren’t intimidated early. South River won the game’s first four draws and used that to take a 3-1 lead six minutes in. The Seahawks kept winning the draws and at one point at a 10-1 advantage which helped them take a 5-3 lead with 15 minutes left in the first half.
“Our intensity level was really high at the beginning of the game and we were able to get some quick goals off of that,” South River coach Caroline Cochran said. “We were really happy with the draw in the beginning of the first half, but the beginning of the second half was a struggle for us to get the draw and it showed based on the score at the beginning of the half.”
Goals from Katie DeFeo and Claire Domshick helped the Falcons tie the game at 5 with seven minutes left in the first half, then Chloe MacDonald’s goal at the 5:13 mark gave the Falcons the lead for good.
After losing 10 of the first 11 draws, Severna Park won seven of the next eight and built a 12-7 lead midway through the second half.
“They did an amazing job on the draw and it was hard to figure out how to adjust to it,” Hines said. “We finally stepped up and decided if we didn’t start taking care of it, the game could have gone very different for us.”
South River held the Falcons scoreless for six minutes and used goals from Kassidy Bresnahan and Lauren Zinkl to cut the lead to three, but the Falcons forced a pair of turnovers over the final 10 minutes and kept the Seahawks off the board the rest of the way.
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