South River defenders slammed balls loose left and right from Crofton sticks. Cardinals shots whistled feet off target. But by the grace of their own talent, Crofton monopolized possession for a majority of the second quarter, hunting the split second of fortune that would tie their neighbors.
The South River attacks knew they’d have to act fast to keep it from happening — once they earned the ball.
“When we got it,” Seahawks coach Colin Campbell said, “we had to make it count.”
Finally, one Cardinals misfire became a South River possession and the Seahawks launched to the other end. Ben Adams quickly hit the back of the net for a goal. Caden Travis followed with another almost immediately off the face off.
But with a swift three-goal lead in hand, the Seahawks could never let up, dragging out a physical 48 minutes to an 8-4 conclusion.
“We got a little distance in the second, third,” Campbell said, “but Crofton made the [gap] stay basically where it was.”
With just a week to go before the county championship tournament, a dogfight triumph smacked the Seahawks (10-1) with a truth they maybe put on the backburner.
“We have to keep coming out hot,” junior attack Trevor Phipps said.
The aftertaste of squashing defending Class 3A state champion Severna Park a week ago still sits sweetly with South River.
But Tuesday was a different battle.
The Seahawks lagged through the first 12 minutes, relinquishing far more turnovers than goals, while allowing Crofton’s Jake Schachter to score sting two goals with little interference.
“We punched Severna Park in the mouth. But tonight, we came out slow,” Phipps said. “Everybody’s heads were a little higher than they should’ve been.”
There were times that South River swarmed Crofton keeper John Gallizzo and pelted shots at him but to a lack of results. No one felt that displeasing ratio more than Phipps.
Typically a prolific scorer, the Towson commit fired 12 shots at Crofton’s cage and landed only three.
“I tried to block it out [in the moment],” Phipps said, “but it definitely makes me feel like I still have to go out and play as well as I can. I’m not better than everybody; there’s still always one person that’s just as good.”
Without its defense, the Seahawks attacks might not have had the chance to wage as many attempts on Gallizzo as they did. South River goalie Conner Campbell only needed to make three saves in the second frame, but the Cardinals wanted a lot more shots than that.
Instead, South River defenders haunted Crofton with each step a ball-handler took, sliding, switching and adjusting as quickly as their targets did.
“We had no middies playing defense. It’s a testament to the six-man defense,” coach Campbell said. “Crofton made me nervous — very nervous. They got a lot of shots off. But defense and [Campbell] did a great job staying disciplined.”
Crofton — 2 0 1 1 — 4
South River — 1 4 1 2 — 8
Goals: CR — Schachter 2, Gress 1, Zanolli 1; SR — Phipps 3, Adams 2, Laye 2, Travis 1; Assists: SR — Laye 1, Phipps 1, Marcian 1; Saves: CR — Gallizzo 15; SR — Campbell 17
