Despite losing to Bryn Mawr by nine in a recent game, Severn coach Renie Sotiropouls thought the host Admirals would do better in yesterday's playoff game if they remained patient on offense and stingy on defense.
The Admirals started slowly -- allowing No. 9 Bryn Mawr to score on three of its first four shots -- but No. 12 Severn rallied and took the lead for good in the second half when it scored four times in 3: 30 for a 10-7 victory in an AIS A Division quarterfinal.
Severn (12-6), which will play host to No. 8 Notre Dame Prep tomorrow at 3: 45 p.m. in one semifinal, wanted to do a better job of attacking a packed-in Bryn Mawr defense. Sotiropouls told the Admirals to pull the ball out to the top of the fan and wait for open cutters.
And they did it well, especially Carol Pricket (four goals) and Becky Sawyer ( two goals, one assist). Each scored once as the Admirals registered four goals in that stretch of 3: 30 to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 9-6 lead.
"We had a game plan and they stuck to it," said Sotiropouls. "Once they started to relax a bit, they saw this does work."
It worked well during that four-goal run. Cynthia Berger (one goal, one assist) started it by scoring after a nice pass from Julie Tice (two assists) with 17: 38 left.
Severn then took the lead for good just 1: 17 later when Bryn Mawr goalie Alexa Deloskey mishandled a ball and it rolled into the cage -- Sawyer got credit for the goal. Pricket then scored on a free position shot only 1: 21 later (15: 00 remaining) and Kate Graw stretched the lead to 9-6 on a shot from in close 48 seconds after that.
Severn scored just once in the game's first 14 minutes, but it soon began to manufacture good scoring chances. Bryn Mawr (9-5-1) still held a 5-4 halftime lead, but the second half belonged to Severn.
"Once we settled down and started doing what we talked about before the game, it all seemed to get a lot easier," said Pricket.
Defense also helped Severn make everything simple. Sotiropouls wanted Severn to shut down Bryn Mawr's Kim Smith, play tough around the crease and double-team whenever possible.
Smith scored twice and added an assist in the first 10 minutes, but Bess Freedlander shadowed and blanked her the rest of the way. Severn also got strong defense from goalie Molly Arey (10 saves) and Gussie Habeck and used double-teams to rattle the Bryn Mawr offense.
Wick Stanwick had with two goals and four assists for the No. 8 Pirates (9-2-1) who ran up an early four-goal and held off No. 6 Garrison Forest, 13-9, in an AIS A Division tournament quarterfinal. Lacey Aumiller scored three for the winners. Lauren Klein led the Grizzlies (9-3-1) with five goals.
Pub Date: 5/08/96
