After Southern girls lacrosse lost its first four draws and fell behind Middletown, 4-0, senior Emmie Mudd took over at the circle and sparked the Bulldogs to a halftime tie.
They continued to build momentum in the second half and rallied to a 12-10 victory in the Class 1A state semifinals.
Southern will play in the state championship game at Stevenson University next week on a day and time to be determined against Fallston.
“Early on in the season we had a game just like this,” said Mudd, who scored the Bulldogs’ first goal just over two minutes into the second quarter. “Crofton went on a 4-0 run, I went in on the draw and we came back and that put us back in the game and I think that’s what happened here.”
After Alana Orlando put the Knights up 5-1, the Bulldogs (10-8) reeled of the next four goals before halftime.
“The energy radiated through the whole team,” Mudd said.
That energy carried into the second half as Rachel Breen (three goals) gave the Bulldogs their first lead just over a minute into the third quarter. Mudd added another goal over a minute later.
“[Mudd] does it all for us,” Southern coach Cortney Yeatman said. “She’s a huge difference-maker for us. She’s a huge leader on and off the field and she really was the one taking charge yesterday at practice and today just getting the girls to believe we deserve to be here.”
Mudd, a Mount St. Mary’s commit, came into the game leading the team in goals (48) and assists (eight), and she was most excited about finally getting to the title game.
“I’ve been in this game [the state semifinal] the past three years and it’s so great to finally make it to the state championship,” she said.
Middletown (12-7) has been to the state title game and lost two of the past four seasons, but it refused to quit after falling behind by two goals.
Reily Kennedy converted a feed from Orlando to cut the deficit to 7-6 with 6:25 left in the third quarter. After Southern’s Molly Schiavone (team-high four goals) pushed the lead back to two, Middletown’s Orlando cut the lead back in half with 2:42 left in the third quarter.
That’s when the Bulldogs pulled away for a 12-7 lead with two goals by Rachel Breen and one each from Schiavone and Haylie Fleming.
Goalie Abby Wallis (seven saves) was dominant during the stretch.
“She made some great saves,” Mudd said. “They had a lot of 8-meters and we’re really thankful that she was there to make those saves.”
“The work and discipline [Wallis] puts in for us, it’s unbelievable,” Yeatman said. “She comes up huge in big moments for us and when I thanked her and congratulated her at the very end of the game, she was like, ‘I work so hard for them.’ She is one of our captains, we are so blessed to have her. She is the best teammate.”
Middletown made it interesting with three goals in less than two minutes late in the fourth quarter, but Fleming replaced Mudd at the draw circle and won the final draw with 2:47 left, allowing the Bulldogs to run out the clock.
“I noticed that the other girl had a draw stick and I wanted my other girl to take it who has a draw stick and we were were alternating basically who was taking the draw and that’s how we finished,” Mudd said.
“Draw possession was key and we thought that 100% if we had won that draw we had a game plan to go down and when we push the fast break, we were on it,” Middletown coach Kaitlyn Dudley said.
Yeatman was finally glad to get her team over the hump after several close calls.
“Our whole coaching staff went to school here and right after college we started coaching here and we’ve been to this game either quarterfinals or semifinals three years in a row and we just haven’t been able to push past it, so the fourth time is the charm,” she said.
Mudd was looking forward to the victorious bus ride home.
“We are so pumped, our whole team is pumped, the whole bus ride here we were ecstatic with music and jumping up and down and the bus ride home is going to be the same,” she said.
Southern — 0-5-5-2 — 12
Middletown — 4-1-2-3 — 10
Goals: S — Molly Schiavonev 4, Rachel Breen 3, Emmie Mudd 2, Brooke Parks 2, Haylie Fleming 1; M — Lilly Brown 4, Alana Orlando 3, Katherine Stevenson 1, Reily Kennedy 1, Clara Stamper 1; Assists: S — Mudd 1; M — Haylee Bentley 2, Katherin Stamper 1, Clara Stamper 1, Orlando 1. Saves: S — Abby Wallis 7; M — Madeline Harshman 6.
