Severna Park Girls Lacrosse Rebounds After Tough Start

As the Severna Park girls lacrosse team hit the midway point of the season, they found themselves in unfamiliar territory: hunter rather than hunted, and owner of a sub-.500 record having lost four straight games.

Mindful that their season-opening slate was nothing short of brutal, the Falcons picked themselves up and moved forward. They haven’t lost since.

The first game out of spring break was a 10-6 loss at reigning 3A champion Marriotts Ridge, but since then it’s been seven straight victories, highlighted by a narrow 7-6 success over Broadneck.

In that game, Quinn Allison’s tally early in the third period gave the Falcons a five-goal lead. They wouldn’t score again, but they clamped down defensively and methodically worked the clock as the gap narrowed.

“I looked up and said it’s never going to stay like that. We just came together and said if we made our stops and took care of the ball, we were going to be OK,” said Severna Park senior Maria Bragg, who scored twice in the win. “It got really intense and you know it’s always going to be back and forth. They had some really good offensive makes, but our defense pulled it together really well.”

In addition to the win over Broadneck, Severna Park defeated Southern 17-5, Annapolis 14-1, South River 8-3, Chesapeake 14-6, Arundel 20-2, and North County 18-0.

The Broadneck and South River wins ensured the Falcons returned to the county championship game, in which they beat the Bruins 12-5, and earned the top seed for their 3A East 2 region playoff run, which starts this week.

Then it’s a return to the grind, where the Falcons hope to play for the 3A title for the fourth straight season, potentially again squaring off against Marriotts Ridge.

“These are the great games and this is what great lacrosse is made of,” said Severna Park coach Annie Houghton. “We learned some lessons from those tougher games, so keeping those games close and getting those girls in helped us with close games and knowing what our competition is, that we can play tough against really good teams.”