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After winning two straight state championships, Severna Park found the playoff road full of pitfalls and pain the last two seasons: they ran into a buzzsaw named Broadneck in 4A regionals in 2022, and they lost 2-1 to Mount Hebron in the 3A semifinals last season.
More painfully for the Falcons, Hebron rolled in the championship game a few days later.
But with a large senior class, 14 returning varsity players, and motivation from successive postseason disappointments, the Falcons feel like they have the right formula to return to the top of Maryland field hockey in 2024.
“This team is hungry. They don’t want to lose in the semifinals this year, so we are working very hard on mentality,” said Severna Park coach Shannon Garden after the team’s first day of practice. “Right now, their mentality is: we’re in this to win it, and anything else isn’t worth it. … I feel like we have the players to do it this year. For the large senior class and returners, it stung to lose in the semifinals by one goal, and they don’t want that to happen again. And that starts here, now, in practice.”
The Falcons return several players with experience and will look to build from the defense out, as is Garden’s bent. With returners like Ava Zimmerman, Emma Weber, Sydney Day and Kelsey Rowe leading the attack and bringing on some young, speedy attackers, there is no predicting where the next goal will come from: it could be any of them.
That frees Severna Park to not be perfect and instead pepper the opposing goal with shots. Someone will be on hand to cash in, if the original shot doesn’t find the back of the goal. It also allows the Falcons to be more proactive and dictate play, rather than be reactive to what the opponent is trying to do.
“We’ve got some really strong forwards coming back, and they’ve been practicing a lot on their shooting and having an attacking mindset rather than a reactive mindset. We’re trying to attack and make the defense react more,” Garden said. “It’s a mindset – some kids just have it naturally, and you see it in every sport that they want the ball. Some kids are a little more methodical and want things to bounce their way. We’re just telling them to take the shot, it doesn’t need to be perfect, and let your teammates clean it up if need be. We don’t need to count on one person to score a ton of goals. It’s not one person’s job to score goals. It’s everyone’s job to score goals.”
In a battle in what Garden called the best top-to-bottom county in the state for field hockey, that attitude should pay dividends as they seek to keep pace with Broadneck and two-time reigning state champion Crofton.
“We’re not going to take anybody lightly because every team has at least a few good players. Crofton and Broadneck have a lot of good players, and we have to work hard and want it more to stay in the games with them,” Garden said. “But I think we have more talent this year that we can push each other to get there and not be intimidated. That’s half the battle, to not be intimidated by teams that haven’t lost and things like that.”
In the 4A ranks, the story is markedly similar: a former champ dealt with semifinal heartache seeks to flip the script in 2024.
Broadneck won the county championship over Crofton last season but ended up ceding their state crown when the Cardinals got revenge with a 2-0 state semifinal win.
Though the Bruins lost their crown, they approach the 2024 season the same as they did in 2023 when they were reigning champs.
“They know that not only are we a very competitive program and every year we should be able to compete for a state playoff run – I think the girls have that mindset and they weren’t shaken. I think they know they’re capable of making it as far as they can,” said Broadneck coach Shannon Hanratty, who invoked the three-part season mantra preached by her counterpart in Broadneck girls lacrosse, Katy Kelley. “Sometimes in sports, you need a reminder that it’s the postseason. I think one thing we have to remind ourselves is that even if we have a few bumps along the road in our preseason and regular season journey, it all comes down to peaking at the right time.
“The goal is to get ourselves figured out when it matters, which is in the postseason. They’ve been such highly competitive athletes for such a long time at this age, that most people don’t get that, that their mentality is the same whether they win or lose. It’s just, next game.”
The Broadneck team returns virtually all of their attacking firepower, anchored by three NCAA Division I committed field hockey players: Faith Everett (Maryland), Katelyn Kearns (UMass) and Raleigh Kerst (Ohio State). Where they might be light, and where those bumps may come, is in the midfield, as Syracuse commit Chloe Page is out for the season following a hip injury, and fellow midfielder Gabby King may also miss the season as she recovers from an ACL injury suffered during the lacrosse season.
That puts an extra onus on senior leadership in defense, spearheaded by defender Grace Figueroa (committed to York College) and goaltender Mia Moody (Salisbury), to plug the gaps while the best solution shakes out in front of them.
“The strength of our core of senior leaders are committed field hockey players, because they want to play this for the next four years, and that opens their leadership opportunities to help bring the younger players along and show them the way, because they’ve been shown the way,” Hanratty said. “Our job as coaches is to figure out the best plan for our personnel, and that’s the goal for preseason. It’s probably going to be something different than in years past, but that’s what sports is: you look at what you have, and you fit the plan to what you have and what’s best for the team. And we have many players who are in that mindset, which makes it easier for us.”
Under the leadership of longtime coach Leslee Brady, Archbishop Spalding finished 14-1 in 2023, reaching the IAAM championships and losing 3-1 to Garrison Forest.
The Cavaliers have plenty of reasons to think they might return to the IAAM finals. This year’s squad features three juniors — defender Stella Bumgarner, forward Skylar Gilman and defender Jilly Lawn — who were named first-team All-County as juniors last fall. Gilman had five game-winning shots for her team, and both Bumgarner and Lawn also earned All-State first-team honors.
This team boasts plenty of experience, with 15 seniors including Severna Park residents Shannon Curtis, Grace Lamon and Madeline Lancione, and Arnold resident Gabrielle Prentice.
Head coach Giovani Gordon’s Severn School squad went 5-10-1 last season. The Admirals’ lone All-County athlete, senior defender Grace Frankl, will return to lead the program. The team has a mix of experience and youth, with eight seniors, nine juniors and two sophomores.
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