Severna Park survives another showdown with Broadneck to claim a spot in the state semifinals
by Katherine Dunn
As the No. 3 Severna Park field hockey team’s center back, Zoe Day is well known for her exceptional defense. In Friday night’s state quarterfinal against Anne Arundel County rival Broadneck, she also made the difference on offense.
Severna Park center back Zoe Day not only led a shut-out defensive effort in the Falcon’s Class 4A state quarterfinal victory over Anne Arundel County rival Broadneck, she also scored the only goal on a penalty stroke.
Day scored on a penalty stroke and led a stifling defensive effort to hold off a relentless Bruins’ attack en route to a 1-0 victory in the state Class 4A quarterfinals at Severna Park.
The defending Class 4A state champion Falcons (15-2) advance to next week’s state semifinals. They aim to add to their state record 24 championships after last year’s state competition was canceled because of COVID-19.
“It’s so exciting,” said Day, a senior who played on the 2019 championship team. “We have worked so hard towards this. Our team chemistry has gotten so much better since the beginning of the season. We spend like every minute together. We’re like a huge family and that plays a huge part in our success, because it’s all about trusting your teammates.”
And in defense, the Falcons trust. They’ve allowed just 10 goals all season and not one in the playoffs.
“We’ve known it all season and every county team has known it, that Severna Park wins with their defense,” Broadneck coach Shannon Hanratty said. “Zoe Day is an incredible player. Charlotte Kramer is a top-notch goalie, so you’ve really got to move her to find those openings and we did a good job of attempting that and taking a lot of shots tonight. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get one in. I think all it would have taken is one to re-spark the flame there.”
The speedy No. 9 Bruins, who took their first shot in the first two minutes, outshot the Falcons, 13-3, and had 13 penalty corners to five for Severna Park.
Kramer had 10 saves and the defensive unit on corners — Day, Meredith Schepens, Bekah Mayron and Gen Mullervy — fought off everything the Bruins threw at them.
The Falcons and the Bruins (11-5) split their meetings this season with Severna Park winning the early game, 2-0, and Broadneck coming back to win the second 1-0 in double overtime, so both teams were expecting the battle that materialized.
The Bruins played exceptionally well on defense too and just one unfortunate roll of the ball cost them the only goal of the game. With a lot of traffic in front of the cage on a penalty corner a ball that would have crossed the goal line hit a defender’s foot, resulting in the penalty stroke with 10:17 to go in the second quarter.
Day kept the ball low toward the right corner.
“I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to hit the backboard, low shot in the corner,’” she said. “We practiced them yesterday just in case this would happen. I just aim for the corner every single time. That’s the only thing going through my head, ‘Hard shot to the corner, placement over power.’”
Broadneck had a lot of chances to come back as they dominated the first three quarters, but Kramer saved everything that wasn’t broken up in the circle.
They’re really aggressive and fast,” said the junior goalie. “You just have to be careful of their quick breakaways and the passes they make inside the circle.”
In the fourth quarter, the Falcons didn’t sit back and try to protect their lead. They played aggressively and their offense surged, but the Bruins defense held them without a shot.
The Bruins also had a couple of strong chances in the final quarter, but Kramer saved their only shot of the period and with 1:57 left, she cleared the ball to the sideline to end their final scoring opportunity.
While the Falcons move on to the state semifinals, Hanratty and the Bruins are excited about next season. With only two seniors in the starting lineup, forward Ella Killian and goalie Chloe Rand, they have high expectations.
“We’ve got girls who are playing above their age maturity,” Hanratty said, “and they’re hanging and controlling a varsity game… We have a good chunk of underclassmen that are going to come back hungry and they deserve to. We did everything we could, we dominated and Severna Park’s strength is their defense and they did their job.”
Pictured above: Severna Park’s field hockey team is introduced to the crowd before taking on visiting Broadneck in the state Class 4A field hockey quarterfinals. The Falcons, who are aiming for their 25th state championship, edged the Bruins, 1-0, to advance to next week’s state semifinals.
STATE CLASS 4A QUARTERFINAL
NO. 3 SEVERNA PARK 1, NO. 9 BROADNECK 0
BROADNECK 0 0 0 0 — 0
SEVERNA PARK 0 1 0 0 — 1
GOALS: SP—Zoe Day.
SAVES: B—Chloe Rand 1; SP—Charlotte Kramer 10.
