Park Girls Turn It On In Second Half, Defeat Broadneck 14-7

The Severna Park girls lacrosse team kept its exceptional season rolling against its rival on April 12, turning a tight game at halftime into a thorough win by defeating Broadneck 14-7.

The Falcons received a game-high five goals from Hunter Chadwick, who also had two assists, as well as hat-tricks by Julia Putzi and Haley Betch in subduing Broadneck and remaining undefeated at 7-0.

Alex Miller, Maddy Brady and Cam Chew added goals for Severna Park, which got stout play from its defense in limiting Broadneck to three goals in the first half and four in the second. Chew led the Falcons with four ground balls.

Chadwick said a week of preparation translated to performance on game day.

“We work on a lot of footwork of defense, and then we work on getting big and moving the ball and keeping our head up and making sure we have outlet passes when we get doubled, because that’s where we’ve struggled and sometimes lose the ball,” said Chadwick, a senior. “We’ve been working really hard on getting the outlet and hitting the open girl.”

It yielded positives for Severna Park (7-0) on a rainy afternoon at Broadneck (4-3). The teams battled throughout a low-scoring first half, and the Falcons led 5-3 at halftime.

That’s when Severna Park began to pull away. The Falcons led 7-5 early in the second when they called timeout and focused their efforts. Chadwick gave Severna Park some breathing room with a superb individual effort, dodging through two defenders and shoveling a goal beneath Broadneck goalie Devon McCue to make it 8-5 with under 15 to play. Putzi followed with a goal to make it 9-5. The Bruins’ Sammy Dupcak converted a nice feed from behind the goal by Olivia Abe, one-timing her shot in to make it 9-6. Dupcak led Broadneck with three goals, while Alexis Sullivan had two and Abe and Kaala Puglisi had one each. McCue saved 9 shots.

Putzi got it right back for Severna Park, as Chadwick found her in front of net, and Putzi top-shelfed it for a 10-6 lead. Putzi secured her hat trick moments later, fortuitously corralling an errant pass, circling the net and slotting it low for an 11-6 lead.

On the other end, Delaney Ott saw Puglisi’s shot the whole way on a brief Broadneck possession, saving it and getting the ball back for the Falcons. Ott made five saves.

Chadwick’s free-position goal, her fourth of the game, extended Severna Park’s lead to 12-6. Another free-position shot under four minutes gave her five for the game and all but sealed Severna Park’s win with a 13-6 lead. Dupcak scored late, but the Falcons killed off a couple minute of clock on their offensive end before Chadwick assisted to Betch for the final score.

Bruins coach Katy Kelley said Broadneck made some plays but regretted its mistakes.

“I thought the girls fought hard and did some very good things to slow down a very talented team,” Kelley said. “We need to minimize our own unforced errors and capitalize on our opportunities. It was an intense, hard-fought game.”

Severna Park coach Kaitlyn Hines was particularly proud of the defense, as the Falcons’ core unit of Ott, Kate Bray, Kaila Stasuli, Rachel Spilker and Sophie Grazioli swarmed and contained Broadneck’s talented attackers.

“I’m really proud of them,” said Hines. “They’re that solid, defensive set that I don’t have to worry as much about down there. They always know when to slide and how to slide. The big thing for us is stepping out, pushing off the [8-yard line] some and to cause those turnovers and those knock-downs, so we really look to capitalize on that. Not to mention, my defense is one of the fastest I’ve ever seen. So I can trust that when they get the ball they are just going to take off down the field, so it’s good to have down there.”

The Falcons remain in the driver’s seat for top region seeding. Severna Park plays its regular-season game against South River on April 30 at Severna Park.