One For The Ages: Severna Park Edges Broadneck, 8-7

Story And Photos By Colin A.J. Murphy

Humming along with an 8-0 record and fresh off a defeat of local foe St. Mary’s, the Severna Park girls’ lacrosse team had a little bit of a swagger built up heading into its April 20 matchup with archrival Broadneck.

And why not? The Falcons had breezed through their county schedule up to that point, their only legitimate challenges coming from the girls’ lacrosse superleague that is the IAAM A Conference. Severna Park squashed a fine effort from Archbishop Spalding on April 7 in the Anne Arundel Community College tournament, allowing the Cavaliers temporary hope of an upset before putting the game away, 13-10. The following day, the Falcons completed a sweep of the tourney by shushing any best-in-the-neighborhood chatter coming from Severn’s campus in an 11-9 victory over the Admirals, avenging last season’s loss to Severn in the same tournament. By mid April, Severna Park was on a steady ascent into the top 20 of multiple national polls and well established as a favorite to defend their 2011 state title.

But a Severna Park-Broadneck matchup is a different beast, and the Falcons had to be on the ready against a Bruins team that was and still is having a very good season. The Broadneck girls came into the big showdown at 7-1 overall, their only blemish a one-goal loss to a very good South River team in the first game of the season. Like the Falcons, the Bruins were making their way up the national polls, and Broadneck had the tall task of bringing the vaunted Severna Park Falcons back down to earth.

What a game it was.

Before an excited crowd of supporters under the lights at Roberts Field, Morgan Torggler led all scorers with four goals, goalkeeper Camille King came up with a huge save in the game’s frantic final seconds, and the Falcons fended off a furious second-half rally by the Bruins to claim an 8-7 victory in the latest classic chapter of the schools’ storied rivalry.

“Our defense did their job,” said Severna Park Head Coach Carin Peterson, “and Camille King did a super job, especially with the save at the end, it was critical. But I will tell you, Broadneck took it to them and made them work for everything, so I give kudos to Broadneck.”

The work started early for Severna Park. The Falcons took a quick 2-0 lead on unassisted goals by Torggler and Ryan Bathras, but the Bruins prevented the game from slipping away early when Brittany Marquess fired home a shot off a nice feed from Aislinn Probst. After Torggler drew a foul and scored on the restart to make it 3-1, Broadneck’s Ellie McNulty responded with two goals over the next three minutes to even the score at 3-3.

The rest of the first half was good and bad for Broadneck. The Bruins were able to mostly frustrate the Falcons’ scoring attack but unable to regain possession for any significant stretch. After a goal by Ally Adams gave Severna Park a 4-3 lead with 10:13 remaining, the Falcons won the ensuing draw and possessed the ball for the next five minutes, punctuating the possession with a goal by Courtney Wells to push the lead to 5-3. Just before halftime, Torggler drew another penalty and scored on the restart, and the Falcons led 6-3 at the break.

A reenergized Broadneck team opened the second half with the clear message that the game was not going to get out of hand. Probst scored unassisted on an aggressive drive through traffic before Marquess did the same, closing the gap to 6-5. A fantastic rejection in the net on a penalty restart by Broadneck goalie Natalee Easthom led only to a rebound and put-back by Wells, giving Park a 7-5 lead. Probst again responded, this time on a wrap-around from behind the goal, making it 7-6. Trading blows, Torggler came back with an unassisted score to make it 8-6 before Marquess answered with 5:20 to play to make it 8-7.

The closing moments of the game delivered the thrill ride one would expect from a Severna Park-Broadneck game. With 50 seconds left and her team up a goal, a cutting Torggler received a laser pass from Adams and had a clear look at the goal from two yards out, but Easthom made an impossible save of Torggler’s shot to regain possession for the Bruins. Easthom cleared, and a lightning-fast Bruins transition gave Probst a decent shot attempt from six yards. That’s when King came through in the clutch for Severna Park, making her sixth—and biggest—save of the game.

““You’re in the moment, and it’s such an intense situation with the rivalry, you just have to come up strong,” said King of her last-second game saver. “We work in these situations all the time…my team, my defense, we came out strong and we weren’t giving in.”

The final whistle came just seconds later and the Falcons breathed a sigh of relief in securing the hard-earned victory. But the night wasn’t a total loss for Broadneck.

“I think the big lesson learned was that we can play with them,” said Broadneck Head Coach Karen Tengwall. “Of course there’s lots of things we can work on, but I think this is a good moment for our team confidence-wise, so I think this will hopefully be a good thing for them to reflect back on.”

SINCE THE RIVALRY GAME

The dramatic victory over Broadneck may have perhaps had a draining effect on Severna Park. The Falcons took care of Southern in their next game on April 24, beating the Bulldogs, 12-7. But they suffered a letdown against Annapolis on April 27. The Panthers (10-1-1) came from three goals down at halftime and shut out the Severna Park offense in the second half to pull out a 7-6 victory. As of April 30, The Falcons are nonetheless still atop the county with an 11-1 overall record.

The close defeat to Severna Park didn’t have any negative carryover effect for the Bruins, and as Tengwall suggested, the loss may even have galvanized Broadneck. In their next game on April 24, the Bruins handed Annapolis its only loss of the season, a 14-6 home stomping of the Panthers. Three days later on April 27 the Bruins trounced Old Mill, 19-4. As of April 30, the Bruins are 10-2 overall, tied with South River for third in the county behind Annapolis and Severna Park.

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