Brwn Mawr Edges Roland Park Country School

Molly Danko scored two goals for Bryn Mawr in the final minutes of a field hockey game against rival Roland Park Country School (RPCS) on Friday to lift the Mawrtians to a 2-1 win over the Reds in the inaugural game of Bryn Mawr’s new turf field.

“It really was just hard-fought-teamwork,” Danko said after the game.  “Everybody was just pushing it, pushing it and I guess I just got lucky and I was there and it kind of went it.  But we were just all fighting really hard to get it down there.”

Danko’s first score – off an assist from Caroline Joy – came with 7:36 left to play in the game.  Just a minute and a half later, the junior forward controlled a loose ball in front of the Reds goal and netted the game winner.

It spoiled an intense effort from RPCS that included a Reds defense led by goalie Katherine Barley and a goal at the 17:40 point in the second half when Landon Warren converted a pass from Kim Credit.
 
In other words, it was a typical athletic event between two schools steeped in athletic rivalry and connected by pedestrian bridges that cross Northern Parkway and Roland Avenue.

“Roland Park played a very, very hard-fought game and I’m glad we were able to answer back in the last seven minutes,” said Mawrtian coach Jeanette Budzik.  “I think the defense took it really hard when Roland Park scored and I was glad that our attack answered back to take the weight off their shoulders, because we are a team and it really just showed how much they want to play for each other.”

Yet the coach noted it is typical of the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A conference.

“This is our league – every game in the A division is this hard-fought,” she said.  “It comes down to one goal – this is what makes it such an amazing league.”

Mawrtian co-captions Hannah Parks and Josie George knew the team had what it took to win – especially for the inaugural game on the new turf field..

“I think we knew we had to win this one, and our team definitely wanted to,” Park said in a post-game interview.  “We showed that – no matter what happens – we can always fight to the end.”

George said the team knew there would be a lot of fans at the game so they really wanted to show them what the team could do.

She also noted the rivalry, and how that may have helped the team.

“It was a lot of our friends playing against us,” she said.  “So I think that was a big push.”

For Reds coach Liza McLaren, it was tough having to play the rival Mawrtians for the first game of the season, yet it gave the Reds something to point toward during the pre-season practices.

“It fed an intensity into our practices that we probably would have had otherwise, but maybe it made it just a little bit more exciting knowing what we were preparing for,” McLaren said after the game.  “They played with incredible hustle, incredible grit – I couldn’t be more proud of how they played.”

 McLaren especially noted the play of goalie Barley, who she said had 13 saves.

“It’s really hard as a goalie – having been a goalie myself – when the score doesn’t work out in your favor,” McLaren said.  “To know that if it had worked out, you would be the maker of the game, and instead, it feels like you’re the breaker of the game.  But as far as I’m concerned, she made the game – she had an incredible game.”

The two teams face each other again on October 14 at RPCS.