(See the All-County Field Hockey Team.)

Four years later, Strother leaves coach Jennifer Parks' program having helped the Bruins beat the Falcons for the first time since 1990 to become the first team other than Severna Park to capture the county crown since 1985.

In the process, the attacker became Broadneck's all-time leading goal-scorer and a consummate team leader, earning Capital-Gazette Newspapers' Player of the Year honors for field hockey.

"Brigitte is the type of girl that every coach looks forward to working with," said Parks, who was an assistant to Marissa Quigley for Strother's first two seasons before taking the coaching reins last fall. "She's a phenomenal athlete and she's such a good leader. It's like she's another coach on the field."

Strother, who started playing hockey for the BAYS youth program at age eight, had 20 goals and five assists this season, finishing with 54 and 15 for her career, respectively.

"The toughest thing about her is how she seems able to get low and control things, but still carry the ball by defenders," said Cheaspeake coach Melissa Page of Strother, whom she coached two years ago on Team Maryland

Strother seemed to be at her best when things mattered most, netting a goal and an assist in the regular-season win over Severna Park, then scoring the game-winner against Chesapeake in the contest that guaranteed Broadneck its berth in the county championship game. In the finals, Strother again scored the game-winner, etching her team's name in the record books as the only school besides Severna Park to capture a county final since Anne Arundel began staging the game in 1994.

"When we won that, it was just an incredible feeling to have all the hard work pay off, both for us and the people that came before," said Strother, who hopes to continue playing hockey at the Division I level but hasn't yet decided on a school. "To finally get the recognition that we're one of the best teams around was great."

Despite her player's small (5-foot-1) stature, Parks saw from day one that the Bruins had a special player in Strother. "Even as a freshman, you could see that she had such a great game sense," Parks said. "She was already strong and quick and skillful, and she was comfortable on the field."

She showed off all of those attributes in the Class 4A East Region semifinals, where Strother scored both of the Bruins' goals in a region semifinal loss to eventual state champion South River.

"That first year, being able to play with the older girls and learn from them really gave me a chance to improve myself and prove that I deserved to be there," Strother said. "I was kind of thrown into the fire, but I learned so much about the game and myself that made me the player I am now."

Over the next three seasons, Strother continued to grow as a player and leader, earning first-team All-County honors after leading the Bruins with 16 goals as a junior. Named a co-captain for her senior season, she was the catalyst as Broadneck reached its first county final since 2002, finishing 15-2 when Severna Park rallied for a 4-1 victory over the Bruins in the region semifinals.

"She's had such a progression since she arrived, and she'll be an asset to any college program," Parks said. "There's a lot of young girls on this team that will remember how she worked and led by example, and it's tremendous to have a player that can do that. It's tough to remember Broadneck field hockey without her."