Severna Park Girls Fall To South River 1-0 In County Championship In Sudden-Victory Overtime

In a rematch of last year’s county championship, the Severna Park girls soccer team faced South River in this year’s county title game at Northeast on October 21 ready to fight, and expecting to go in overtime.

Unlike last season, the Falcons couldn’t secure an OT win as the Seahawks scored in overtime to win the county title 1-0.

In the 2018 county championship Severna Park defeated South River after double overtime on penalty kicks. The rivalry between these teams has been strong for years, according to Isabella Espinoza, senior forward, who sat the game out due to injury.

Severna Park was calm and collected in the minutes leading up the first whistle. They were optimistic and ready to give it their all.

It was clear in the first minutes of the game that both teams had come to win. While Severna Park focused their game on gaining possession, South River was more focused on attacking the ball.

Goalkeeper Katie Byrd, a senior, was alert and made two saves in the first fifteen minutes. Though South River held possession for the majority of the first half, Severna Park wasn’t making it easy. Sophomore Sofia Espinoza had a number of impressive breakaways up the sideline to throw South River off and change the game’s momentum in Severna Park’s favor.

Both Severna Park’s and South River’s defense were ready to fight, and the first half ended 0-0.

“We won’t go scoreless tonight,” said the announcer at the start of halftime. The girls remained calm and optimistic at the half.

Though the styles of play were exponentially different, the teams were evenly matched, and the game was going to be close.

“The energy is way up,” said senior midfielder and captain Toni Fiocco-Mizer. “Both teams are great. This game is going to come down to heart.”

Fiocco-Mizer suffered an injury to her knee and sat the rest of the majority of the second half out with athletic trainer Helen Denbow.

In the first 20 seconds of the second half Byrd had already saved a shot on goal, and Severna Park had the momentum.

The energy on the bench was high the entire night. The girls were standing and cheering their teammates on the entire second half. No player or coach was left sitting as the game went into a 10-minute sudden-death overtime period.

Energy was still high and neither team was tired as overtime began.

Both teams put up a strong fight, but it was a clean goal by South River senior and captain Madeline Lenkart that won the game five minutes into overtime.

“I’m very proud of the girls, they did a great job,” said head coach Rick Stimpson. “They fought well for the entire game and we just didn’t get the bounce we need, and that’s just soccer.”

A potential rematch in the region playoffs could be in the cards. The Falcons travel to play Leonardtown in their opening playoff game on Saturday 10/26 at 5 p.m., and South River will play the winner of Broadneck and Annapolis. If both teams advance past their first opponent, they’ll play in the 4A East Region II final. Eight teams will advance to the state quarterfinals.