Severn pushes past South River in girls lacrosse

When the Severn girls lacrosse team took on Archbishop Spalding last week, the Admirals jumped out to an early lead but eventually lost on a goal in the final seconds by the Cavaliers.

Taking on host South River in the Girls Lacrosse Showcase on Saturday, the Admirals grabbed a quick lead again but this time made it stand up, getting four goals and an assist from Brooke Robbins and 15 saves from Zoe Bennett to defeat the Seahawks, 12-10.

"I guess we learned from Spalding how awful it feels to lose in the last five seconds," Robbins said. "We were just focusing on body defense and then today I think we really just wanted to keep that lead, take care of the ball and just keep pushing."

Caroline Mason scored her first of two to open the game and Tess Bradshaw followed with a goal before Robbins' free position goal put Severn up 3-0 and spawned a timeout from the Seahawks.

From there, the Seahawks began to get into the game, cutting the lead to 3-2 on goals from Alexis Grant and Kathleen Sullivan. Grant finished with a pair of goals as did Kassidy Bresnahan and Madeline Lenkart.

The remainder of the game saw the same scenario play out as the Seahawks kept battling, closing to within a goal four different times only to see Severn answer and push its lead to two or more, thanks in large part to goaltender Bennett.

Bennett says she revels in making the big stop and it showed as she stopped multiple free positions and close range shots in situations that would have allowed the Seahawks to tie the game.

"It makes you feel so good," Bennett Said. "It makes you pumped, you get everybody else pumped, it starts from the defense and then it radiates to the offense and then they usually get a goal and it's really good."

Severn coach Erin McCarthy agreed with Bennett on the impact of defensive stops.

"It cannot be overstated how important she is to our team and our defense," McCarthy said. "She's our anchor and when she steps up to make big plays, it brings up the intensity of everyone throughout the field and we play a little bit better."

Severn got three goals from Camryn Levin and one goal each from Maddie McVicker and Katie Galway.

"I think our main goal has been possession," McCarthy said. "If the ball is in our sticks, then they can't score. We have been really concentrating on possessing the ball and making smart choices on offense and they did a really good job of that today."

South River's Hailey Maranto, Madeline Cloyd and Kendall Leonard also scored and the Seahawks, who had several shots hit the post, including twice in the final three and a half minutes.

"It's so loud, too, and these goals especially," South River coach Caroline Cochran said. "We were unfortunate with some of that. It's good shooting, obviously, aiming for a corner, but it didn't fall our way. They went full out the entire time and that's all we can ask at that point. ... we had some opportunities at the end, some caused turnovers, happy about that but we just need to finish."

GOALS: SE - Robbins 4, Levin 3, Mason 2, Bradshaw, McViker, Galway; SR - Bresnahan 2, Grant 2, Lenkart 2, Sullivan, Cloyd, Maranto, Leonard. ASSISTS: SE - Kirchenheiter, Robbins, Sindler; SR - Bresnahan, Cloyd, McGuirk. SAVES: SE - Bennett 15; SR - Kahler 5, Mansur 1. SHOTS: SE - 20; SR - 26. DRAWS: SE - 9; SR - 15. GROUND BALLS: SE - 7; SR - 7.