A Loss, But Northeast Girls Unfazed By Severna Park

Here’s the simple fact: Severna Park beat Northeast in girls soccer on September 17. It’s an outcome that has occurred many times in the past 30 years. For people in Severna Park, the result will surely fade from memory before long.

But anyone who attended the game knows that the day was much, much more about the Eagles, not the Falcons. It was about the Northeast players and the rising tide of confidence that will one day lead the program to victories over Severna Park, Broadneck, South River, Chesapeake or any other program standing in their way.

The game ended in overtime on a goal by Severna Park’s Molly Derlink, who scored to lift the Falcons to a 3-2, golden-goal victory.

Head coach Scott Langlois, whose Eagles took Severna Park to overtime for a second straight season (Northeast lost to the Falcons 1-0 in double overtime last season), was not celebrating a moral victory for coming oh-so-close; after all, the Eagles expect to compete with everyone.

“Last year we went to double overtime with them, and then this year,” said Langlois. “I think we can compete with every team. Last year it was surprising to [take them to overtime], but I really thought, like—it’s not suprising. We’re not the underdogs anymore. We got girls that want to play, they want to bang heads out here. There is no game that we walk into that we’re the underdog at all. We’re just going to play 80 minutes.”

View a photo gallery of the Northeast girls soccer team against Severna Park.

Prior to Derlink’s goal, the Eagles held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on first-half goals by Alley Fox and Kinlee Bruns. Fox scored under seven minutes to put the Eagles out to an early advantage, and Bruns responded to Lindsay Prugh’s equalizer with a goal of her own to put the Eagles back in front, 2-1.

After halftime, the Falcons’ Janidy Madera found the net to tie the contest, and the teams battled over the remainder of regulation time, remaining deadlocked at 2-2 heading into overtime.

Northeast fought and fought and fought. Samantha Baysic turned in a herculean effort in goal for the Eagles, recording an eye-popping 21 saves.

But the Falcons had superior depth. They cycled fresh legs into the game for shifts. By overtime, Northeast was starting to run on fumes.

Derlink’s goal allowed vaunted Severna Park to breathe a sigh of relief. Did the Falcon players have any idea Northeast would be such a tough opponent?

“They knew,” said Severna Park head coach Todd Clark. “I told them. Northeast is an up-and-coming team. Scott’s a very good coach. He knows the game, and he knows how to use his players to get the most out of each and every player on the field. So we knew this was going to be a tough game. …I’m glad we’re playing tough teams early, because it gives us time to grow.”

Langlois was unfazed by the loss in postgame comments.

“We’re doing good,” he said. “We’re improving each week. We’ve got the girls really ticking. They got beat up tonight, but it was a fair, good, hard-fought game, both teams. Both goalies did fantastic. Both teams got a lot of good shots off, and that’s just the way it goes. I think our defense got tired there at the end with the same defenders in there the whole game. We got beat, but I’m proud of my team.”

Midfielder Yuli Arguera was naturally upset to not get the win, though she spoke proudly of her team.

“We played well. They have a big starting lineup and everything, but we gave heart,” she said. “We showed it. We had heart out there. We played with our heart. I’m not disappointed in my team. I’m very proud.”

The junior captain was positively defiant in her confidence.

“We’re not afraid of anybody,” Arguera said. “We can take every team out there. If we show up, we show up, and we will beat every single team in this county. Watch out. We’re coming.”

View a photo gallery of the Northeast girls soccer team against Severna Park.