Westminster field hockey thought it was playing a 60-minute game Saturday. Severna Park knew it was really playing four 15-minute games.
Falcons coach Shannon Garden hauled in a white board to every game and scribbled each incremental goal, so “as to not get overwhelmed with the whole game.” She stressed 50-50 balls, communication, passing, and so on.
“By the end of the first 15 minutes, I was able to cross them all off,” Garden said. “And that felt so good!”
Finally, Shannon Garden could take her stinky, sweaty Severna Park sweat set off. As her players collapsed over each other on the cool Stevenson University turf, celebrating a 4-0 triumph in the Class 3A state championship game, Garden said, “I couldn’t wash the win off.”
The clothes were a hand-me-down from a former player, Ava Drexler-Amey — the same player who led Severna Park to its last title in 2021. Senior Sydney Day felt a similar connection to the previous, dominant group that won in 2019, too — her elder sister, Zoe, owns two state championship rings.
The true reason for Severna Park’s victory wasn’t mystically woven into stinky cotton, though.
It would be difficult for anyone in the county to consider a Severna Park team an underdog, let alone when you learn they hold a state-record 26 titles and have made 32 appearances in the final. But in Anne Arundel County, with Crofton and Broadneck running the table these past two years, they were. To make matters worse, illness plagued the program early on this fall.
“We all thought we were so screwed,” senior defender Hannah Pope (one goal, one assist) laughed.
Severna Park has a white board for everything. The Falcons set up a second one before the St. Mary’s contest on Sept. 9 to write down season goals. They’d mark a smiley or frowny face next to each.
There were lots of smiley faces by November.
“If they didn’t take it in their hearts to want to fix those little things, we wouldn’t be standing here,” Garden said.
At the start of each game, Garden tells her players they have two minutes “to get an outcome.” They didn’t wait for two.
From the first minute, the Falcons drew corner upon corner, and by the third, senior Sydney Day found her path through. She collected a cross from senior Hannah Pope, and drilled a hole behind Westminster keeper Natalie Schultz.
“I think it really puts a shock on the teams,” senior Ava Zimmerman said. “That’s what happened here, and they didn’t know what to do. So, we kept the pressure on.”
Only two corners later, senior midfielder Kelsey Rowe took a jab from Ava Zimmerman and swung at the net. The shot whistled just a hair off angle — which freshman Grace Redmond, who netted three goals in the Falcons’ victorious semifinal, recognized. She hooked a piece of it, and planted the goal firmly.
The reason Severna Park scored those corners was as simple as an execution of the blueprint: the Falcons position someone on pads, a girl on each post and limit any shot directly to the goalie. Knowing they don’t need to score on every corner, they know they can get a repeat (and did, 16 times). The trust the players carry in each other allows them to take chances, too.
“Shannon likes us to focus on rebounds,” Day said. “She says we like to ‘score scrappy.’”
Toward the end of the first, Zimmerman threaded a ball toward the net when an Owl collided with her, earning the Falcons’ midfielder a penalty stroke.
Westminster struggled as the Falcons constricted them like a serpent. The Owls drew corners, thrashed, but nothing reached Camryn Lowman. Defenders cut every Westminster ball down without it so much as skimming the small yellow circle until the final eight minutes. The Owls launched a shot, drawing Lowman a step forward to kick it back and groans from the Carroll County side of the crowd.
“We know we can’t force anything. By making the simple passes, we weren’t making a lot of mistakes,” senior defender Emma Weber said, “and that helped us play more offensively.”
Garden wanted her players to be as versatile as possible and refused to restrain their roles to something as silly as a “F,” “M” or “D” on the roster.
“I’ve probably played every position at this point,” Pope said.
And as a result, in the fourth quarter, defender Pope logged the Falcons’ fourth goal.
“I’m fortunate I have athletes who, you say ‘go play right forward,’ and they go do that. This team is very special,” Garden said. “One of the few teams I’ve ever coached having all my [10] seniors on the field. I know, next year, I’ll be down some queens.”
Severna Park — 3 0 0 1 — 4
Westminster — 0 0 0 0 — 0
Goals: SP — Sydney Day 1, Grace Redmond 1, Ava Zimmerman 1, Hannah Pope 1
Assists: SP — Hannah Pope 1, Kelsey Rowe 1, Grace Moran 1
Have a news tip? Contact Katherine Fominykh at [email protected] or DM @capgazsports on Instagram.
