Bruins Finding Ways To Win At End Of Field Hockey Season

An uneven season was perhaps to be expected. But after flirting with a sub-.500 season, Broadneck’s field hockey team has come good at the right time.

The Bruins have won five straight games, including a tense 3-1 region semifinal win over Annapolis, to put themselves up against longtime regional foe Leonardtown for the region’s lone berth in the 4A state tournament.

In that game, Cate Imber scored a little more than two minutes in, but unlike the game a week prior in which Broadneck blew Annapolis away, the Panthers tied it almost immediately.

That was when the Bruins knew they were in for a long night and had to dig their heels in and scrap for the win. They soaked up stretches of pressure defensively but didn’t allow many good opportunities while waiting for a breakthrough at the other end.

“I think that everybody had to put on a big defensive effort tonight, because they were putting a lot of pressure on,” said Broadneck goalie Trish Maloney, who allowed only the early goal on a seeing-eye shot from well out to her right. “They were moving the ball a lot differently down the field, and we were having trouble keeping them on their toes and keeping pressure on the ball.”

Early in the third period, Imber scored her second from a corner to put Broadneck up for good. She pulled to her left in search of priceless shooting space, something Annapolis had denied the Bruins all night. As she fired, the Panthers flashed a stick at the shot and got a heavy touch on the ball — but not enough of it, as it looped up and over the goalie into the back of the cage.

After that, Broadneck defended for their lives in stretches. Annapolis’ best chance in the remainder of the game came down the right wing, and when the ball came in low, Maloney laid out at full-stretch to deny both cross and shot. The Panthers wouldn’t get another quality chance.

“I was just trying to put my best effort in. It’s a playoff game, so you put everything out that you can,” Maloney said.

Late on, with Annapolis in search of the equalizer, Raelyn Soares finished a counterattack by drawing the goalie out, going around her, and then shoveling the ball into the empty net to ice the game.

For Broadneck, it was a teaching moment but also one where the young Bruins could look back on the game with pride.

“We proved that we can overcome anything and stay strong. When they scored, it was a little surprising to us, because we were beating them 5-0 at one point last game, but we were able to overcome that and continue to work for the second goal,” Imber said. “It really depended on who got the second goal, because that was going to shift the entire game.”

That win was the fifth in succession for Broadneck, after a 4-2 loss to Severna Park. Before the region semifinal win, they beat Chesapeake 5-2, Annapolis 6-2, North County 4-0 and Winters Mill 8-0.

The Bruins now head to Leonardtown on October 28 for the region final. To win that one and return to the state tournament yet again, it’s going to take both applying everything they’ve learned this season and extracting everything that’s left to learn.

“While we’ve been progressing and building a lot this season, we have girls that are still very young. Even though they’re starting to play very well together, they’re still inexperienced in terms of their age as varsity players,” Broadneck coach Shannon Hanratty said. “We played well, but I also know I’ve seen us play better, and I know we can do more. We are certainly going to need to do that to keep the season alive.”