GAMBRILLS, Md. — The Arundel High School girls lacrosse team is ending a season like none other with a game like no other in Wildcats program history: the state championship game.
"Oh my god. You have no idea," said senior Nikki Seven. "I’ve been waiting for this for four years and this journey has been incredible."
"This is crazy, super surreal. It’s amazing. We’ve worked so hard," added senior Hailey Kohlmann.
Arundel makes its first trip to the state final on Saturday. It will be the program’s first shot at a class 4A crown.
"It’s history. I know a bunch of alumni, coaches, teachers, everyone has our back," said Seven. "It means so much more to our community than just each other and our team."
To make even more history and lift the championship trophy Arundel has to upset top-seeded, undefeated Broadneck.
"It doesn’t have to be Broadneck. It’s just an opponent that we have to get through to win that title," said Seven. "Broadneck is fantastic. They have great girls. They have great coaching staff. But, we’re here for a reason too."
"We have nothing to lose tomorrow," said Kohlmann. "We are going in, we’ve never been in this position ever. We are just as good as them, maybe even better."
Leading the Wildcats is a head coach who is no stranger to bringing home state championships. Kim McNemar is in her second season leading Arundel. Before that she coached at Catonsville and South River. She led both programs to their first state titles in their school’s history. She is the only coach in Maryland to lead two different schools to girls state lacrosse titles.
"I knew when I started coaching these girls that this was going to be one of those teams. This was going to be a special team," she said. "It takes certain families, certain type of girls to get to this point. I knew from the beginning that I had that."
McNemar and Arundel take the field with Broadneck Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. at Loyola University’s Ridley Athletic Complex.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
