SILVER SPRING — There was plenty of emotion to go around in Perryville’s team huddle following its loss in the 1A State Semifinals on Friday. It was a group that won its third straight region title, along with its second straight state quarterfinal game, a week earlier.
It is a Perryville team that leaves behind a legacy of postseason success.
“This set of girls did an amazing job over their four years, all they have done is successfully one-upped themselves,” Perryville head coach Mary Dunman said. “To the point of now we’re in the final four.”
Perryville’s 2024 spring season came to a close in a 15-7 defeat at the hands of the Cougars. Fallston will face Southern-Anne Arundel in the 1A State Championship on Wednesday.
The Cougars scored six goals in opening 10 minutes of game action. Ayla Galloway’s goal at the 2:45-mark of the first quarter capped off Fallston’s six unanswered scores and gave the Cougars a 6-0 advantage. Sarah Murrell put Perryville on the scoreboard in the final minute of the quarter. Fallston held a 6-1 lead at the end of one. Murrell scored both of Perryville’s first half goals. Her second came with 2:27 to play in the half to cut the Panthers’ deficit back down to five. A goal by Fallston’s Ava Lambros sent the Cougars into the half holding an 8-2 lead.
Perryville’s Sarah Kilby opened the second half with a goal at the 10:54-mark, before Fallston rattled off five unanswered goals from Lambros, Delaney O’Mailey and Syndey Grafton to hold a 13-3 advantage. The Panthers trailed by nine entering the fourth quarter after a goal from Murrell. Perryville found the back of the net three more times from Murrell and Macy Forrest in the fourth quarter.
“It’s not a bad score for us against Fallston,” Dunman said. “It’s right about in the wheelhouse that we are always at against Fallston.”
Murrell and Lambros each led their teams with five goals, while O’Mailey finished with three.
Even after being a part of Perryville’s postseason accolades, Murrell said the Panthers’ 9-7 win over North Harford on her senior night will always stick with her. It was Perryville’s first victory over a division opponent from Harford County.
“Not only did we finally win on our senior night in a hard matchup, but we beat a Harford County school, so it was like a double whammy,” Murrell said reflecting on her time at Perryville. “We finally put lacrosse together and played a full game from goalie to attack.”
With the Perryville senior set to play women’s lacrosse at Old Dominion next spring, there is a lot Murrell will remember from her time as a Panther. She recalled joining the team as a freshman, learning the ways of the squad from the upperclassmen and now doing the same as one of Perryville’s six seniors.
“We just hit milestones this year that no team at Perryville has,” Murrell said. “To go from losing 20-1 last year [in the state semifinals] to now making it an eight-goal game, it just meant a lot to me for my senior year.”
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