Falcon Girls Survive, Advance Past Linganore

Playoff season has no preference for how you win; it just cares that you do, in fact, win.

Severna Park’s girls lacrosse team’s state quarterfinal tussle with Linganore on Wednesday featured a little bit of everything: a frenetic first quarter, a one-sided second quarter, eight yellow cards, both teams forced to play a player light for the much of the second half, a star player’s disqualification, both teams employing stall tactics at various times, and one team failing to score in the second half.

At the end of it all, Severna Park remained standing, outlasting Linganore 11-8.

“It’s very stressful, being up and on the sidelines, it’s stressful, but we know we’re good when we have the ball,” said Severna Park senior Francesca Dunoyer. “We had to just play our game, and manage the moment, because it’s a big moment in the state quarterfinals.”

Dunyoer led Severna Park with three goals, while Sara Kreis, Bella Van Gieson and Peyton Jeffers scored twice. Erin Hussey and Maria Bragg also found the back of the net.

The two teams went back and forth in the first period, which saw Severna Park escape with a 5-4 lead. The Falcons extended that lead to 11-5 on the back of dominant special teams. Once in the first quarter and once in the second, Linganore took a two-minute penalty, and Severna Park scored twice on each of those extra player advantages. In the second quarter, Severna Park took a two-minute penalty; the Falcons scored twice on that advantage too, despite being shorthanded.

“I think we work so much on random scenarios in practice that we’re just used to it,” said Severna Park coach Annie Houghton. “We go even, then we’ll say we’re a man down, then we’ll say we’re two down. Putting the girls in those types of situations regularly really helps when the pressure is really on in games like this.”

Severna Park didn’t score in the second half, but they didn’t need to. In the third quarter, Linganore took their fourth yellow card of the game, which by rule meant the Lancers had to play with one fewer player for the rest of the game. Early in the fourth, Severna Park took their fourth, and the second for their standout player Maria Bragg, who by rule was done for the game.

At that point, Severna Park was content to pass the ball around and whittle down the final minutes to set up a semifinal matchup with Thomas Wootton or Northern on Saturday morning at Glen Burnie High.