Severna Park survives Towson for another state lacrosse final four trip

Severna Park boys lacrosse team’s state title reign was on life support Wednesday. Not deterred, however, the Falcons leaned hard on their championship mettle to keep their run alive.

Severna Park boys lacrosse team scored five straight goals in the fourth period to rally past Towson for a 8-5 victory in a Class 3A state quarterfinal Wednesday evening in Anne Arundel County.

“We just hung in there,” said Severna Park coach Dave Earl, whose team is seeking a seventh straight state crown. “I think when [Towson] got a two-goal lead, our guys just rallied defensively and got a couple of stops. [We] didn’t fold.”

Trailing 5-3 with nine minutes left in the game, the Falcons (14-3 overall) desperately needed a spark. The jolt came from senior Andrew Myers, who found the back of the cage with 8 minutes, 15 seconds left in the game to make it 5-4.

Severna Park kept the pressure on from there and earned several scoring chances before sophomore Jack Fish found the tying score with 5:10 left.

“We had a lot of good players step up,” Fish said. “Andrew Myers had the goal that got everyone going. This is a really big confidence booster for our team, and we are just going to keep it going.”

The Falcons continued to control the action, winning the ensuing faceoff and going back on the attack. Under a minute later, Fish found senior Alex Stroble in front of the cage and the senior attacker finished to give Severna Park a 6-5 lead with 4:36 left in the game.

“Being down fired the boys up,” Stroble said. “We started moving the ball right and got the looks we wanted, and we just won as a team. Camden Webb [was big] with all those faceoff wins.”

With 3 minutes left, junior midfielder Tucker Moran added some insurance for the Falcons with a goal to make it 7-5.

Fish put the finishing touches on an impressive night with his third goal that sealed the win with 1:22 left.

“He is the kind of guy that’s rallying the guys in the locker room and pumping everybody up in practice,” Earl said of his sophomore standout Fish. “He leads by example on the field and gives 100 percent all the time. We came really close to naming him a captain as a sophomore, but we said let’s give him one more year. I think he’s a shoo-in next year as a junior.”

Fish started the scoring for the Falcons with the lone goal in the first period as the defenses dominated the opening quarter.

Towson got even with 7:08 to go in the second period on a goal from sophomore Alex Tyler. The Falcons responded and went up 2-1 with 5:15 left in the first half.

Both teams finished the first half with a flurry. Towson tied the game on a score from junior midfielder Jackson Kanzler with 27 seconds left before half.

The Falcons called timeout, drew up a play and took a 3-2 lead when Nolan Grizzle scored with under 1 second left in the half.

Towson took control of the game with a dominant third period. Generals senior midfielder Hutton Lipinski tallied the tying score with 6:37 left in the third period.

The Generals took their first lead with 1:18 left in the third when Lipinski dished to senior William Kennedy for a score to make it 4-3 in favor of Towson.

Towson seemed to be in complete control when senior Hayden Celio cashed in a goal to make it 5-3 with 10:46 left in the fourth period.

“We said coming in that we believed in our guys,” Towson coach Phil Rossetti said. “The game plan was to minimize their possessions and take care of the ball. We had them in a good spot late. We were up 5-3 and we had them in a good spot. We turned the ball over and if you make mistakes, against a really good team like that, they are going to make you pay. But I am proud of our guys. We got unlucky there and it didn’t go our way, but I am proud of our team.”

The Falcons, who won the 3A state crown after five straight in 4A, are headed back to the state semifinals. Severna Park will play Southern Maryland’s Chopticon, Friday or Saturday at a site to be determined.

“It was a great game, but we can’t let down,” Stroble said. “We have to keep practicing hard every day and we’ve got to get ready for the next team.

CLASS 3A STATE QUARTERFINAL

SEVERNA PARK 8, TOWSON 5

Towson 1 1 2 1 -- 5

Severna Park 0 3 0 5 -- 8

Goals: Towson – Alex Tyler, Jackson Kanzler, Hutton Lipinski, William Kennedy, Hayden Celio; Severna Park – Jack Fish 3, Tim Sullivan, Nolan Grizzle, Andrew Myers, Alex Stroble, Tucker Moran

Assists: Towson – Hutton Lipinski 2, William Kennedy; Severna Park – Nolan Grizzle 2, John Burkhardt 2, Jack Fish, Tim Sullivan, Kevin Bredeck

Saves: Towson – Alex Hochrein 7; Severna Park – Ashby Shepherd 5