Severna Park Girls Defeat Chesapeake 3-1, Earn Berth In County Championship

Perhaps the Severna Park girls soccer team was motivated by its Tuesday loss to the private-school powerhouse over at Archbishop Spalding, its only loss of the season. Maybe Severna Park was aware of the buzz surrounding the Chesapeake girls soccer team going into Thursday’s matchup with the Cougars, in which a spot in Monday’s county championship game was at stake.

Or maybe the Falcons just have a really, really good team, and they’re prepared to show it every time they’re on the field.

That was certainly the case on Thursday, when Severna Park exploded off the starting block for two goals within the first five minutes, added a third goal in the second half and deflated Chesapeake’s upstart bid to crack the county’s elite with a 3-1 win.

Ella Raines and Toni Fiocco-Mizer scored in the opening minutes for the Falcons, and senior center back Lena McLaughlin scored with a header in the second half as the Falcons moved to 11-1-2 overall.

Severna Park finished its county season undefeated at 9-0-2 and will play South River in the county championship game on Monday at Northeast.

McLaughlin said the Falcons knew what to expect in Chesapeake, a fast and aggressive team capable of scoring, and one gunning for a shot at winning the county; the Cougars (8-2-2) could have usurped Severna Park’s berth in Monday’s championship with a victory on Thursday.

“Coming into the game we for sure knew it would be a challenge, and we were motivated, especially after our loss on Tuesday, and we were motivated for the county championships,” said McLaughlin. “This is our last home game, so we really just kept possession and brought it.”

Fans were still trickling into the stadium on the windiest day of the fall when Raines put the Falcons up 1-0. Wearing the captain’s armband, Severna Park senior Lauren Campbell received a pass in the midfield and threaded a through-ball perfectly to the speedy Raines, who got to the ball before onrushing Chesapeake goalie Sarah Cuttler. With a wide open net in front of her, the junior attacker calmly rolled the ball in for a 1-0 lead.

Chesapeake didn’t take the necessary steps to realign before the second blow landed. On the restart, Falcon sophomore Sofia Espinoza sent a pass through Chesapeake’s back line, this time to Fiocco-Mizer, who was less than 50 seconds removed from creating a goal when she finished one of her own to make it 2-0.

“There was a wide-open hole in the middle of the field, and honestly, yesterday in practice I missed like three goals just in the exact same spot, so when I got the ball from Sofia, just a beautiful pass in the center, I had to compose myself, take a touch and find the open corner,” said Fiocco-Mizer.

The scoring bonanza wasn’t over, because Chesapeake took one back almost immediately. Cougar junior Brooke Hurst broke through, getting into the goal mouth and sneaking one past Severna Park goalkeeper Katie Byrd to make it 2-1 inside seven minutes.

With fireworks to start the game, Severna Park set about its trademark possession, patient buildup and defensive toughness to stifle the Cougars and, as Falcon coach Rick Stimpson put it, “take the energy out of the game a little bit.”

“We knew [Chesapeake] were going to be a tough game for us,” said Stimpson. “They’re athletic, they like to press the ball. We said we needed to get off to a fast start, which we did, which was great. We got the two early goals, which settled us down. Obviously we gave one up shortly after that, but we still got the momentum on our side, which was really helpful. And the big thing was, I told them, just getting under control, not rushing passes, keeping it under control, connecting passes and take the energy out of the game a little bit. That showed their composure.”

Browse high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. Photos by Colin Murphy

It helped that Severna Park benefitted from an apparently deepening well of reserves. Playing without starters Bella Espinoza and Chloe Nagel—both suffered season-ending injuries in the past month—Severna Park cycled batches of players in and out, a growing strength that Stimpson said has evolved over the course of the season.

“It was a big loss losing Bella and Chloe, but the other girls have rose to the challenge,” Stimpson said. “It gave opportunities for other players that weren’t getting opportunities before, and everybody that’s gotten in has stepped up, so that’s been great for us. We’ve found a few other players that can step in and be impactful in those games for us.”

Over 20 players saw minutes for Severna Park.

McLaughlin, a mainstay at center back and part of a Severna Park defense that has allowed five goals this season, is also a favorite target of fellow senior Maddie Altman, who helped Severna Park extend its lead to 3-0 a little more than 10 minutes into the second half by sending an out-swinging corner kick into the center of the box, where McLaughlin used her height and leaping ability to beat everyone to it.

“Maddie just gave me the perfect ball, and I just had to put my head through it,” said McLaughlin. “I didn’t have to do much. It felt good.”

Her powerful header was buried in the net, and Chesapeake’s hopes of cracking into the Severna Park-South River-Broadneck stranglehold on the county championship were all but buried with it.

Byrd made a pair of nice saves in the remaining time, once coming off her line for a sliding challenge. Junior Olivia Nicholson made her presence felt on defense, clearing a Chesapeake shot off the goal line and saving a sure Cougar goal with eight minutes to play.

Neutral observers had to feel for the Cougars, who couldn’t quite come up with the performance they needed to crash Monday’s party.

“We don’t usually get beat in the midfield, and their central midfield beat us tonight,” said Chesapeake head coach Kevin Keeter. “I don’t know if you heard us screaming early, ‘You can’t let them turn! You can’t let them turn!’ On both of their early goals the center midfielder had time to turn, they played through balls and we gave up goals. So we made a little adjustment in the center midfield and played better in the last part of the first half. But we got beat in the center midfield today; they were just better than us.”

Still, the Cougars have produced a tremendous season, and at 8-2-2 will be a force in the 3A East playoffs, with likely home games through the section final.

“If you would have told me in August that we were going to go through Severna Park, Arundel, Broadneck, South River and Leonardtown and be 8-2-2, I would take that every time,” said Keeter, who noted that the girls showed resolve in not letting Severna Park run away with the game or turn it into a blowout, as the Falcons did in the 2017 and 2016 matchups.

“We’ll probably have a couple home games for the playoffs,” Keeter said. “We have confidence.”

Naturally, the night belonged to Severna Park, which completed an undefeated season in county play and will face South River on Monday in the county championship at Northeast. Severna Park tied the Seahawks 0-0 on October 3. In last year’s county championship, Severna Park prevailed on penalties, 0-0 (4-3).

Fiocco-Mizer said it’s been a joy to run it back with her teammates for her senior season.

“It’s amazing. Last year we did the same thing almost, and it’s just great to be with a great group of people on and off the field,” said Fiocco-Mizer.

Stimpson, in his first year leading the Severna Park girls varsity program, said the Falcons have handled everything that has come their way.

“I’m tremendously proud of them. They’ve done a great job all season. Every challenge that’s come up, we’ve answered,” he said. “The girls have all worked really hard for each other. It’s been a joy to watch them play and be a part of them.”

Browse high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. Photos by Colin Murphy