d6 eZ m2 the washington post.saturday, november 16 , 2019
high schools
semis, it’s really easy to get star-
struck,” Langley Coach Katie Rob-
inson said. “We still had that
star-struck moment — when you
realize what you’re playing for —
but this year we settled down
quickly and got the ball rolling.”
Powered Friday by three goals
from junior Hannah Abele, Lang-
ley (19-1-1) will face Kellam (18-4)
at noon Saturday. The Virginia
Beach school beat W.T. Woodson,
3-1, in the other semifinal.
Langley’s opponent in its 2018
semifinal, First Colonial, had ap-
peared in eight consecutive state
championship games and had
won three titles in that span. TheBY KATE YANCHULISThe Langley field hockey team
advanced to the Virginia Class 6
state semifinals last season but,
once there, struggled under the
bright lights. On Friday, the Sax-
ons owned the stage — and
clinched their first state final ap-
pearance since 1980 — with a 4-0
victory over Western Branch at
South County High in Lorton.
“Your first time in the state
with a goal, and despite a handful
of shots on goal, Woodson could
not convert again.
“I saw a lot of heart and deter-
mination from this team,” Wood-
son Coach Katie Stribling said.
“Despite how it ended, we had a
season to be proud of.”
In t he Class 1-3 semifinal, Inde-
pendence fell, 4-0, to Poquoson
(19-1). In the first year of the
Ashburn school’s existence, the
Tigers (14-7) made a surprise run
to the state tournament despite
fielding a roster with no seniors.
The school does not have a senior
class.
[email protected]“The whole game, our goal was
very clear,” junior Chloe Reed
said. “Everyone looked around
and said: ‘This is our second
chance. We d eserve to be here. We
can do it.’ ”
In the other semifinal, Wood-
son (18-2) fell after a back-and-
forth first half suddenly turned
on the Cavaliers. With seven min-
utes left i n the half, Kellam scored
twice in 18 seconds to grab a 2-0
lead.
Woodson regrouped at half-
time, leading to a goal by senior
Margaret Stephan 27 seconds
into the second half that halved
the deficit. But Kellam answeredLess than seven minutes in,
senior Bella Holloman broke
through for the first goal by chip-
ping in a rebound. Before the end
of the first half, Abele had added
another. That 2-0 halftime lead
left Langley both confident and
nervous, Robinson said.
“We told ourselves, ‘We really
need to put this one away and not
give them any chance to come
back,’ ” senior Mikayla Schoff
said.
The Saxons did just that be-
hind two more goals from Abele,
giving her a hat trick and her
team a berth in the state champi-
onship game.Saxons, aware of their lack of
experience, allowed themselves
to be intimidated.
Chesapeake’s Western Branch
(16-6) did not carry the same
daunting reputation, and Langley
came in with most of last year’s
team intact. From the moment
the first pass connected Friday,
the Saxons sensed a difference.
“Last year, we came out with
the mentality of, ‘Let’s keep the
game as close as possible; let’s try
as hard as we can,’ ” senior Mad-
die McGaughey said. “This year,
we came out with the goal to win,
and you could see that right
away.”Virginia class 6 field hockey semifinals
Saxons turn back Western Branch; W.T. Woodson falls
langley 4,
western branch 0BY KYLE MELNICKBALTIMORE — Near the end of
October, when the postseason be-
gan, the Severna Park girls’ soccer
team set aside time at the end of
every practice for penalty kicks.
That extra work paid off last week
in the semifinals.
On Friday night in the 4A c ham-
pionship, the penalty kicks let the
Falcons down as they lost to Perry
Hall a fter a scoreless draw w ent to
the extra session. The No. 4 Fal-
cons fell, 4-3, on penalty kicks at
Loyola University’s Ridley Athlet-
ic Complex.
“You can’t replicate a penalty
kick shootout in practice,” first-
year Severna Park coach Rick
Stimpson said.
After falling to Whitman in last
year’s M aryland 4A semifinals, t he
Falcons (15-3-2) knew they could
make another postseason run this
season with eight starters back
from last year and 13 seniors on
their roster.
Severna Park overcame chal-
lenges to reach its first state title
match since 2011. The Falcons
handed S outh River i ts f irst loss in
their regional championship. In
the semifinals last week, Severna
Park beat Churchill in penalty
kicks after tying at one score
apiece.
Severna Park posted 12 shut-
outs this season and gave up mul-
tiple goals on just one occasion.
Perry Hall’s defense also been
strong this year, recording shut-
outs in four games this postsea-
son.
Opportunities were hard to
come by Friday as the teams went
scoreless through a pair of over-
times.
“Obviously the stakes were
pretty high,” S everna Park defend-
er Lena McLaughlin said. “Com-
ing so close from last year, this
really felt like our opportunity.There was obviously a lot o f inten-
sity and a lot of nerves but also a lot
of excitement.”
In p enalty kicks, the teams t rad-
ed goals through two rounds. But
Severna Park missed i ts third p en-
alty kick, and Perry Hall defender
Caroline Warns took advantage
with a goal. Moments later, for-
ward Erin Marciszewski clinched
the w in f or Perry Hall (13-6).
Perry Hall’s students chanted
“back-to-back” as the Gators
claimed their second consecutive
Maryland 4A title.
Stimpson told his players they
would need to play well and have
luck to win a state title.
On Friday, Stimpson felt his
team performed, but i t didn’t have
the luck that he felt was on Perry
Hall’s s ide.
“This was a great w ay t o end t he
season,” Severna Park goalkeeper
Katie Byrd s aid. “We didn’t get the
result we wanted, but this was j ust
a great l evel of intensity. I t was just
exciting to get here.”
kyl [email protected]maryland 4a girls’ soccer final
Penalty kicks doom Falcons this time
Perry hall 0,
sev. Park 0 (4-3 Pks)Langley’s Hannah Abele scores the first of her two second-half goals in a win over Western Branch.
BY KATE YANCHULISWhen Riverside senior Jenna
Greason batted the ball out of the
air and into the cage with 39 sec-
onds remaining in the Virginia
Class 5 field hockey semifinals
Friday, the Rams’ bench erupted
as if the goal had secured a
victory rather than just cut the
deficit in half.
Ye t after the precious few re-
maining seconds had ticked off
the clock, the Rams walked off
the turf with a 2-1 loss to Cox at
South County High in Lorton.
Still, the goal — and the Rams’
reaction to it — symbolized how
far the program has come. Four
years ago, Riverside went 3-13 in
its first varsity season. This year,
the Rams (20-1) won their second
straight region championship
and carried an u ndefeated record
into the state semifinals.
Riverside kept the contest
close against Cox (20-1), a Virgin-
ia Beach program that will play
for its 21st state championship
Saturday when it takes on Moun-
tain View in the final.
“This is by far the hardest
team we’ve played all year,” Riv-
erside Coach Amy Oldknow said.
“We didn’t play our best game,
but of what I’ve seen from [Cox],
scoring a goal on them and only
having a one-goal differential,
that says a lot about our team.
“Did we want to win? Of
course we did. But to end our
season against a team that is so
powerful, I’m okay with that.”
Early on, Cox’s physicality put
Riverside’s players on their heels,
Oldknow said. The Rams strug-
gled to establish possession in
the first half and gave up goals to
Cox’s Mia LaRusso and Sadie
Cohen.
Riverside’s b est scoring chance
came when two Cox players re-
ceived penalties at t he same time.
The Rams tried to take advantage
as junior Gurnoor Dhaliwal
dashed up the right sideline and
then cut toward the goal, but theRams could not convert.
In the second half, Riverside
regained its footing. The Rams
kept the Falcons off the score-
board and generated more scor-
ing chances.
“I think finally they just got
comfortable and they realized
they could compete,” Oldknow
said of her players. “I could see
they were going to do everything
and anything to get that ball in
the cage.”
Greason, a lacrosse player who
joined the field hockey team for
her junior and senior seasons,
finally broke through for the
Rams in the final minute, but it
wasn’t enough.
Greason and seven other se-
niors will graduate this spring,
but Riverside i s set to return with
a solid core and a wealth of
experience.
“We’ve improved every year
since the start,” Dhaliwal said.
“We got to the quarterfinals last
year, [and] we got to the semifi-
nals t his y ear, so it’s t he final next
year. We’ll be ready.”
[email protected]Virginia class 5 field hockey semifinal
Unbeaten run ends, but rising Rams see another step forward, not a setback
cox 2,
riverside 1john mcdonnell/the Washington post
R iverside’s Eva Yacura fires a shot during the Rams’ loss to Cox. Riverside finished the season 2 0-1.BY TRAMEL RAGGSFinally, after North Point’s De-
marco Cuffey came down with
the interception that sealed the
Eagles’ 28-23 win over Oxon Hill
in a Maryland 3A South semifi-
nal, the senior could allow him-
self a moment to breathe.
Cuffey had drawn opponents’
best receiver all season and
drawn his coaches’ ire during
film sessions and practice as t hey
worked with him on technique.
On Friday night, he stayed with
the Clippers’ Jaden Byrd on a
deep ball when it mattered most.
“When [Byrd] lines up, he
always go deep, so I just made
the necessary adjustment and
executed,” Cuffey said after pull-
ing in the pick at the North Point- “This moment means a lot for
me because all season everybody
has been on my head.”
Corey Johnson’s four-yard
score with 58 seconds remaining
had given North Point the lead,
capping off a drive of chunk runs
from the senior and sophomore
Michael Craig.
Less than a year after they lost
to Quince Orchard in last sea-
son’s 4A state final, the Eagles’
hunger to get back to the title
game remained. Against the
Clippers (8-3), their push started
on the ground.
“We had seen some things on
film that showed us that the run
would be there if we were just
willing to play hard and do our
job,” Craig said. “When it got late,
we was tired, but I could see that
[Oxon Hill] was more tired, so
me and Corey just went and ran
like we wanted it more.”
The game started fast, with
each team scoring two touch-
downs in a three-minute span.
The defenses eventually found
their footing, and the Eagles
(9-2) entered the fourth quarterclinging to a 22-17 lead.
North Point drove deep into
Oxon Hill territory before the
Clippers’ defense stiffened, forc-
ing a turnover on downs.
Oxon Hill then drove for a
score and a 23-22 lead with 3:17
remaining, keyed by Robert
Montgomery’s 40-yard pass to
Kyree Clark that set up Kimon
O’Sullivan’s five-yard touchdown
run.
“I can’t lie to you. When they
scored I was a little nervous,”
Cuffey said. “But with the kind of
offense that we have, if you leave
us even one second on the clock,
we still feel like we still have a
good chance to win.”
North Point Coach To m Petre
said his team was prepared when
the situation demanded it.
“Every day we talk to these
guys about playing in the mo-
ment,” Petre said. “... Getting
tested like this tonight will go
far in us getting back to the
stage.”
[email protected]maryland 3a south football semifinalEagles seize moment to top Clippers
north Point 28,
oxon hill 23photos by john mcdonnell/the Washington post
W.T. Woodson’s Allie Maahs, center, goes for a shot on goal during the Cavaliers’ semifinal loss.UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws