When lacrosse season began back in March, Severna Park’s Sarah Lloyd never envisioned herself as a goalkeeper. She figured to be a key player in the midfield for the Falcons, who were coming off two straight unbeaten state championship seasons.

But Lloyd suffered a stress fracture in a leg early in the season and until a few weeks ago was relegated to the sidelines. She watched as the Falcons lost three regular-season games for the first time in a long while. The area where the Falcons needed the most help was in the goal.
“I wasn’t up to running speed yet, so I thought, why not try goalie,” said Lloyd, also a state champion swimmer.

That has worked out very well for the Falcons as Lloyd made six saves in helping them beat South River and start their march back toward the top. Monday night, she made some terrific stops among her eight saves as the No. 13 Falcons avenged an early season loss to No. 3 Broadneck, 17-9, and advanced to Wednesday night’s Class 4A-3A East regional final. They will host No. 10 South River at 5 p.m.

Lloyd, a junior, was one of the big differences in the Falcons being able to turn the tables on the Bruins.

“She’s so athletic,” Falcons defender Lelan Bailey said. “She has great reaction time and great field sense. As a midfielder, she saw the whole field and that makes her even better as a goalie because she can see the open girls.”

Falcons coach Carin Peterson agreed that Lloyd’s athleticism has helped her come along so quickly.

“She’s just a pure athlete,” Peterson said. “I could put her anywhere on the field and tell her to do anything and everything and she’d walk on and have no problem picking it up, and that’s probably any sport. You tell her to go play golf and she’d probably be one of the best golfers out there."