The Severna Park High School girls lacrosse team won its eighth state title and second in a row Wednesday when it topped Catonsville at UMBC, 17-6.
Severna Park junior Sam Farrell (left) defends Catonsville senior Jessica Nonn during the Falcons' 17-6 win in the Class 4A-3A state finals on Wednesday.
High School's Julie Gardner received a pass while in motion and was about 18 yards away from the goal with three defenders in her way.
Like she's done hundreds of times, the crafty senior started to run straight at the cage while dodging would-be obstacles. She sliced through the defense with fantastic speed and scored for the final time in her prep career leaving jaws dropped and teammates in awe.
It was the sixth goal of the night for Gardner and it was more than enough to propel the Falcons to their second straight state championship title with a 17-6 victory over
Catonsville in the Maryland Class 4A-3A state finals at the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Wednesday night.
With the win, Severna Park finishes the season with a perfect 20-0 record for the second year in a row. The team's last defeat came at the hands of Dulaney on the very same field in the 2006 finals. Since then, it's been 40 up, 40 down.
"For this year, it's definitely the same feeling to just win and be 20-0 again for the whole season," said Falcons defender Theresa Zichelli, one of the 11 seniors on the team. "It's different because we're the seniors this year and we were the leaders of the team. To bring the whole team to another state championship is always a good feeling."
Gardner was followed in scoring by junior attacker Jaci Gassaway (four goals, two assists), and seniors Kendall Pittinger and Allison Behringer with two goals apiece.
The machine-like offense -- as its been described by other opposing teams along the way -- was in full effect Wednesday. Senior Hayley Rausch scored to start the second half and open a 12-1 lead for the Falcons. Severna Park went into cruise control after that and flirted with a continuously-running clock and 10-goal lead the rest of the game.
But after the final horn sounded, the Falcons were finally able to show some emotion while piling on top of senior goalkeeper Jenna Wadsworth (six saves) in celebration at midfield.
"I guess it's a compliment to be compared to a machine but we have emotions, too," said Gardner, a three-year varsity player, who is headed to the University of Virginia. "When we're all playing together, you can't stop us."
It was a lesson the Comets (12-7) anticipated and learned all too fast.
"Just too many offensive weapons," Catonsville coach Dorothy Gill said.
The Comets started the game exactly the way they wanted to. Catonsville won the first draw control, possessed the ball for several minutes and took aim at the Severna Park goal three times before junior attacker Abby Sneeringer broke through for the game's first goal.
"Well, I thought we had it for a while there," Sneeringer said with a grin. "It got us pumped up and I think we did a good job of getting the momentum in the beginning. We came out with a good attitude."
But the early 1-0 deficit just triggered the Severna Park onslaught. Behringer took advantage of a Catonsville turnover in front its own net and Gardner scored off a rebound as the Falcons scored twice in the final 45 seconds of the half to open a 10-goal lead.
The Falcons peppered the Comets' cage with 39 shots and scooped 23 ground balls. The action in the midfield was all Severna Park after the break as Catonsville did get one ground ball in the second half.
"This group of gals is just incredible," Falcons coach Carin Petersen said. "Everyone on this team has done a tremendous job. To go as far as they've gone this year, to deal with the pressure and the streak and to do it the way they have is just phenomenal.
"Their play today was ... it just never died. They made a statement."
On defense, the Falcons made life difficult for senior midfielder Jessica Nonn, one of the Comets' top players. Every time she possessed the ball, Severna Park defenders would swarm. Junior Sam Farrell, one of the Falcons' top marking backs led the charge and sophomore midfielder Sarah Lloyd came up with several clears. Senior attacker Rebecca Reymann was also a focal point for the defense.
"Every time she got the ball, we denied (Reymann) from going right and kept her outside of eight meters," Petersen said. "Again, the girls got the job done. We did everything we wanted to accomplish on defense."
Nonn and Sneeringer each finished with two goals to lead Catonsville. Reymann scored with 18:15 left to cut Severna Park's lead to 13-4 but that was as close as the Comets would get. Senior goalkeeper Devon Nolan tallied four saves for Catonsville.
Severna Park (20-0) 11 6 - 17
Catonsville (12-7) 1 5 - 6
GOALS: SP - Gardner 6, Gassaway 4, Pittinger 2, Behringer 2, Cloud, Rausch, Barranco; C - Sneeringer 2, Nonn 2, Reymann, Garman. ASSISTS: SP - Gassaway 2, Gardner, Barranaco, Rausch, Mundell. SHOTS: SP - 39; C - 16. SAVES: SP - Wadsworth 6; C - Nolan 4. GROUND BALLS: SP - 23; C - 10. DRAW CONTROLS: SP - 14; C - 12.