Young Bruins End Season In Region Semis

The Broadneck girls soccer team had their ups and downs in 2024, perhaps no more clearly shown than in the region playoffs.

Two days after crushing Annapolis in the opening round, the Bruins saw their season end with a 6-0 defeat at Leonardtown on October 25.

Two early goals sent the Raiders on to victory, ending the Bruins’ season.

“They had us circled on their schedule since last year when we beat them,” said Broadneck coach John Camm. “They’ve been looking for this game for a while. They’re a very good team, and they very well could win the state tournament. We’re just a bit young and make young players’ mistakes — we’ll be back, and better than before.”

Grace Gartrell’s hat trick fired the Bruins past Annapolis 5-0 in the region quarterfinals, three weeks after the teams played to a scoreless deadlock. Lola Banks and Raegan Milnes had the other goals.

That in itself proved the progress of a young team that primarily played freshmen and sophomores for the bulk of the season.

“They’ve made progress throughout the season. We have some points of emphasis, like taking better care of the ball, not being so loose with it, things like that, and they’ve done a great job with all of it,” Camm said. “Sometimes the other team is just more athletic and experienced. A year or two from now, we’ll be more experienced and more athletic.”

With the conclusion of Broadneck’s season, with a record of 7-8-1, the Bruins say goodbye to seniors Gartrell, Sienna Miller, Elizabeth Favazza, Emma Donnelly, Grace Mills, Mackenzie Walker, Breanna Brown and Maya DeMella.

Camm paid tribute to the departing players, particularly those who stuck with the program and continued working despite seeing limited minutes.

“All the seniors, the kids that played all the time to the ones who probably didn’t play as much as they would have liked, they’ve been great role models,” he said. “They’ve put the team first, and I’m really happy with them.”