Lady Falcons win 3rd county crown in 4 years | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Rausch scored four goals and Julie Gardner finished with three to lead Severna Park to a 14-8 win over Broadneck last night to claim its third county title in four seasons.

"It was just really nerve-racking," said Rausch, who scored two goals in each half. "Even being up five goals, you feel the urgency that you need to score more. But we realized we had a good lead. We waited for them to play us, and we took advantage of that."

Gardner collected two assists, and both Allison Behringer and Katie Cloud scored twice for the Falcons.

Severna Park (15-0) finished its second consecutive undefeated season last week with a 26-8 win against South River. The Falcons haven't lost since the 2006 4A-3A state finals, and they've won 39 of their last 40 games since losing to Broadneck in that season's county title game.

"It feels great," said Gardner, who was presented with her third county championship trophy after the game. "It's always sweet. It's senior year, so it's amazing because it's our last time together. It's a great feeling."

Megan Eshleman scored three goals and Chelsea Thompson added a pair for Broadneck, which limited Severna Park to 14 goals - its lowest total this season.

"Defensively, we were tough," Broadneck coach Karen Tengwall said. "We just didn't execute on the offense. Had we put the shots in that we were shooting, it would have been a heck of a lot closer."

Severna Park trailed early in the game, but rebounded to take a 6-5 lead into the halftime.

Broadneck controlled the tempo early and put Severna Park in a quick hole.

Courtney Tomchik picked up a ground ball and a goal on Brodneck's first possession, 1-0, and Lindsay Mitchell buried a bouncing shot for a two-goal lead.

A couple minutes later, Rausch raced three-quarters of the field for a breakaway goal to cut the Falcons' deficit to 2-1, and Gardner spun around the defense in a crowded scoring zone and evened the score at 2-2.

"(Gardner) is perfect," Severna Park coach Carin Peterson said. "She's an all-around player. She plays offense and defense. She can do it all."

Jaci Gassaway countered Eshleman's first goal the half with a quick, left-side pass to Rausch at the top of the 8-meter box. Rausch took three steps toward the goal and fired a low shot past Broadneck goalkeeper Kasey Howard to tie the score at 3 with 11:41 left in the half. Cloud gave Severna Park its first lead with a wrap-around goal 11 seconds later.

Karri-Ellen Johnson, the Bruins' restart specialist, took advantage of a free-position opportunity by charging down the scoring lane and fired a shot above Falcons goalkeeper Jenna Wadsworth's shoulders to tie the score at 4-4.

Gardner set up goals for Anna Patterson and Sam Farrell for a 6-4 advantage - Severna Park's largest of the first half, and Eshleman made it 6-5 at the half.

"During halftime, we said, 'We need to pick it up. This is not Severna Park lacrosse,'" Gardner said. "Everywhere on this field, we were just lackadaisical, so we picked it up, played harder on defense and moved the ball more on offense."

Rausch and Gardner pushed the Falcons' lead to 8-5 with consecutive goals at the start of the second half, and Behringer connected on back-to-back scores for a five-goal lead.

Broadneck (11-3) 5 3 - 8

Severna Park (15-0) 6 8 - 14

GOALS: BR - Eshleman 3, Thompson 2, Tomchik, Mitchell, Johnson; SP - Rausch 4, Gardner 3, Behringer 2, Cloud 2, Patterson, Farrell, Lloyd. ASSISTS: BR - Thompson 2; SP - Gardner 2, Gassaway, Pittinger.