When Crofton field hockey shut out Broadneck in the Class 4A state semifinals last fall, all agreed that was the true championship game. Little did they know that not only would they get their dream matchup one year later, they’d finish with the same score.
As the horn sounded on the Cardinals’ 2-0 triumph Saturday at Stevenson University, Maryland-bound goalkeeper Ryleigh Osborne threw her mask aside and hugged every teammate she could. The defense that had so expertly staved off even the most dangerous Bruins scorers and held them without a goal for the first time all season. The offense that had spotted the littlest bit of daylight the defense afforded it and swung the door wide-open.
The 17 Crofton seniors had not ended a season without lifting a championship trophy since 2021 — one title in 3A (2022), and now two straight in the 4A — in four years as a varsity program. Though they’d dropped the first meeting with Broadneck by a goal on Sept. 10, they’d struck back in the county championship game. They’d scrapped through difficult region and state tournament foes.
There was no other way to leave Saturday but with gold medals slung around their necks.
“Going out with a loss was not an option,” said senior Olivia Feeley, who netted one goal and assisted Sophia Galarza’s.
Unlike Thursday’s state semifinal with Walt Whitman — and a litany other games this season — Crofton’s offense struggled to sustain long possessions against Broadneck’s defense.
But the Cardinals only really needed two good shots.
Feeley has become so accustomed to Jackie Kerner feeding her the ball that she already stood facing Kerner before the junior even received it. Kerner served Feeley her food, and Feeley tacked another goal to her 20-plus total for the season.
“We’ve been all playing together for 10 years,” Feeley said. “We know where each other’s going to be.”
Broadneck found itself in its own familiar position — trailing. It’d been their style all fall.
But here, it did not help itself.
The Bruins took two truly open shots in the first half and groaned as both skittered out of scoring range.
“We talked about all game: they’re probably gonna score,’” Osborne said. “But our defense really wanted it. It wasn’t just me; our whole defensive line was so disciplined and intentional with everything they did. There’s no better way to end it than how we did.”
Broadneck defenders Claire Imber and Grace Figueroa fended off the first two Crofton corners, but they just kept coming. On the third, Kerner rolled a pass Feeley’s way in the exact same spot of the circle. This time, the Bruins were ready: Figueroa lunged forward and flushed Feeley from her perch before she could try a shot. Feeley skated around the circle, Figueroa and Katelyn Kearns stalking her flanks. She couldn’t shake free, but she glanced at the far post, where Galarza awaited her to hook and shoot.
Osborne cheesed at her fellow senior afterward, thinking of all the times Galarza practiced that move at the exact spot, screaming.
“In!” In! In!” Galarza recalled, laughing. “I couldn’t miss it.”
Four minutes into the fourth, Kearns lined a shot toward the net most keepers would’ve let in. Osborne gravitated to it like a magnet, and kicked it back. For the next Broadneck shot sent her way, Osborne dropped into a ballerina’s split, blocked it, and popped back up as if it were nothing.
“They have one heck of a goalie,” Broadneck coach Shannon Hanratty said. “And I’m proud of my team.”
Crofton will be a different team next year, perhaps even longer, without the 17 players that catapulted the fledgling program to legendary status within a high school career.
For that reason, coach Amy Skrickus — who, her players confirmed, never cries — wept twice Saturday.
“They just want it. They do what you ask them to do. They work hard. They don’t get down if things don’t go their way; they just keep fighting,” she said. “It’s hard to think of Crofton field hockey without them.”
Crofton — 1 0 1 0 — 2
Broadneck — 0 0 0 0 — 0
Goals: CR — Olivia Feeley 1, Sophia Galarza 1
Assists: CR — Jackie Kerner 1, Olivia Feeley 1
Saves: CR — Ryleigh Osborne 3; BN — Mia Moody 1
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