Falcon Field Hockey Nets 26th State Title

The queens have their crown back.

Behind relentless pressure across all 100 yards of field, Severna Park smothered Westminster 4-0 in Saturday’s 3A state championship field hockey game, as the Falcons reclaimed their perch atop Maryland’s field hockey mountain.

Severna Park got goals from four players: Sydney Day opened the scoring, followed quickly by Grace Redmond. Then Ava Zimmerman scored a penalty stroke to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead before the first quarter was up. A fourth-quarter goal from Hannah Pope rounded out the scoring.

The Falcons are normally a defense-first team. Their preferred tactic this season has been to put the opponents under pressure from the opening whistle, get ahead early, and then squeeze the life out of a game like a boa constrictor.

“At the beginning of each game, coach says you have two minutes to get an outcome, whether it’s a goal or it’s a corner. That’s what we focus on and we start out going really hard,” Day said. “If we are able to let back, we can, but we always have to start ahead.”

The tactic worked to ruthless precision: the Falcons racked up 20 corners, and they scored on three of them plus Zimmerman’s stroke.

Once ahead, the Falcons got back to their calling card: defend and deny the opponent a meaningful scoring opportunity. Camryn Lowman was barely tested in the Severna Park goal, logging one save late in the contest when the outcome was already decided.

“We broke it down in 15-minute increments, so as to not get overwhelmed with the whole game,” said Severna Park coach Shannon Garden. “‘What can we do well this 15 minutes?’ We have goals on the white board, and we were able to check them all off the list in the first quarter, which was really good.”

Pope, Kelsey Rowe and Grace Moran assisted the three goals Severna Park scored in open play.

The victory, Severna Park’s first since 2021, was the 26th in the program’s history and the Falcons’ 31st championship game appearance, out of 39 years the sport has been contested under the MPSSAA’s governance.