SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 2010
KLMNO ALLMETSPORTS.COM VIRGINIA AAA SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
By winning a state title, McLean ends its season ‘on a bang’ 4
by Alan Goldenbach
Going against history and con- ventional wisdom, McLean cap- tured its first Virginia AAA soft- ball championship in the only manner possible. “We ended it on a bang,” senior
outfielder Lauren Sutherland said, “and that’s what we wanted to show.” The Highlanders’ 4-2 victory
MCLEAN LEE-DAVIS 2
over Lee-Davis in the final at Westfield was a stunning thwart to history, both distant — no Northern Region team had cap- tured a title since Centreville in
First for a generation: McLean is the first Northern Region softball champion since Centreville claimed the AAA title in 1995. Six other teams had reached the final since then, but lost. Can’t get ’em out: McLean’s Carolyn Gilbertson and Lauren Sutherland came to the plate a combined seven times and reached base each time.
VIRGINIA AA GIRLS’ SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP Broad Run goes to the corners to three-peat
Zoepfl, Smith score to pace Spartans to third straight title
by Mark Giannotto
radford, va. — Along with the usual array of ballhandling and running drills that are part of her team’s warmup, Broad Run Coach Claire Collins had the Spartans practice corner kicks before the Virginia AA girls’ soc- cer final in order to adjust to the width of the field at Radford University. The routine paid
BROAD RUN
LOUDOUN COUNTY
2 0
off in historic fash- ion as Broad Run scored both its goals off corner kicks to defeat ri- val Loudoun Coun- ty, 2-0, and joined George Mason —
which won the A classification ti- tle also Saturday — as the first Virginia girls’ soccer programs to win three consecutive state ti- tles since West Springfield wrapped up the feat in 1993. Junior Ellie Zoepfl and fresh- man Cassie Smith scored for the Spartans (21-2-1), and both goals were set up by corner kicks from All-Met junior Whitney Church. “Just knowing the fact that you just made history, it’s in- sane,” said Church, an under-17 national pool player. “I don’t know what to think about it, it’s just so amazing.” The victory was Broad Run’s
fifth over Loudoun County this season, and in those wins it out- scored the Raiders, 15-1. The Spartans haven’t lost to a AA op- ponent since the 2007 state quarterfinals. Even though the Raiders (14-
10-1) had trouble keeping pos- session throughout, they did have a chance to make things in- teresting trailing by one late in the first half. After a Broad Run hand ball just outside the penal- ty box, senior Olivia Mackey’s di-
TRACY A. WOODWARD/THE WASHINGTON POST Broad Run’s Cassie Smith, second from left, beats Loudoun County’s Christy Byle to head in a goal off a corner kick in the second half.
rect free kick sailed just over the crossbar — Loudoun County’s best opportunity of the game. For the Spartans, this year’s championship is particularly im- pressive considering they lost eight seniors from their 2009 ti- tle team, five of whom went on to play at the college level this past fall. But after the final whistle
Water break: Due to the 90-degree heat in Radford when play began at 10 a.m., the game was briefly stopped 20 minutes into the second half so both teams could drink some water. Shutdown defense: Saturday’s victory was Broad Run’s 13th shutout in its last 14 games, and its 17th this season.
sounded, Broad Run gathered near midfield and celebrated like this was its first championship.
VIRGINIA AAA GIRLS’ SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
Tiernan, Herndon propel Stone Bridge to undefeated finish 4
with big plays in final by B.J. Koubaroulis
Stone Bridge’s 4-0 victory over Cosby in Saturday’s state fi- nal at Westfield ended the sea- son for the No. 3 Bulldogs, but it also signaled the start of a new era for the Ashburn power. Murielle Tiernan and Ashley
Herndon — a freshman tandem that has taken the Virginia AAA soccer landscape by storm, scor- ing 43 of the Bulldogs’ 78 goals this season — again shined on the big stage. “It’s hard to find one person
that can finish, let alone two,” said Stone Bridge Coach Joan Windows. “This is just the per- fect finish to a good season.” Tiernan found Herndon on a cross in the 47th minute and then Herndon scored again on a breakaway in the 50th minute to push her single-season school record to 29 goals. “This is exactly what we’ve been working for since the start of the season,” said Herndon, who also scored twice in Friday’s 4-0 semifinal victory over Cox. Stone Bridge took a 1-0 lead in
the 29th minute on a goal that was officially ruled an own goal. Tiernan sent in a corner kick that connected with a Cosby
Freshmen come through
STONE BRIDGE COSBY 0
Loudoun, titletown: Stone Bridge’s victory also solidified the Loudoun area’s rise in girls’ soccer. Broad Run won its third straight AA crown with a 2-0 victory over Loudoun County High School at Radford and No. 2 Loudoun Valley (19-3-3) girls made it to the AAA semifinals, meaning four Loudoun area girls teams made their respective tournaments, with two capturing titles.
Numbers: Stone Bridge goalkeeper Julia Harmison had four saves and the Bulldogs outshot Cosby, 16-9.
player’s head and rolled into the left corner of the net. Herndon’s two-goal explosion pushed the lead to 3-0 and then senior mid- fielder Sarah Bowers chipped home a deflection off of Cosby’s goalkeeper for a 4-0 lead in the 63rd minute. Stone Bridge (21-0-2), which won the Virginia AA title in 2005, won its first AAA title and finished the season undefeated. The Bulldogs pressured Cosby
(19-3-1) early as All-Met Jennifer Skogerboe, a Connecticut re- cruit, controlled the middle of the field and the pace while strong-legged defender Emily Fredrikson pushed the tempo with her power from the back line. That allowed Herndon and Tiernan to test Cosby’s goal- keeper, combining for four of
JAHI CHIKWENDIU/THE WASHINGTON POST Erin Leonard, left, hugs Sarah Bowers after a goal in the 63rd minute gave Stone Bridge a 4-0 lead.
Stone Bridge’s eight first-half shots. The Bulldogs’ defense was able to neutralize Cosby senior Becca Wann — a Richmond- bound basketball and soccer re-
cruit who helped push Cosby past No. 2 Loudoun Valley in penalty kicks in the tourna- ment’s semifinals. Stone Bridge’s victory contin- ued Northern Virginia’s reign
over the AAA state title. Since the tournament went official in 1984, only once has a non-local team captured the title (Kellam in 2005).
koubaroulisv@washpost.com
Players picked up blades of
grass from the field as a souve- nir, desperately tried to soak Col-
lins with the water jug, and came together for one final chant: “Three-peat.” “It gave me goosebumps,” said
Zoepfl of the postgame scene. “It’s kind of unreal for me to be on a three-peat team. Even to be part of it, it’s unbelievable. I’m so proud.”
giannottom@washpost.com
1995 — and recent, as the High- landers faced Lee-Davis pitcher Kelly Heinz, who threw a perfect game in Friday’s semifinal against Madison, a team that beat McLean three times this season. To prepare for Heinz’s speed, which overwhelmed Madison, Mc- Lean took batting practice Satur- day morning against a pitching machine set to 65 mph. “And they were hitting the ball,”
McLean Coach Maurice Tawil said. “They were thinking, ‘We could ac- tually do this.’ ” After spotting Lee-Davis (25-3) the game’s first run in the bottom
of the third on an infield ground- er that Haleigh Cottrell beat home from third base, McLean (25-5) answered in the top of the fourth. Jessie Straub led off with a lined single. Carolyn Gilbert- son reached on an error, allowing Straub to reach third. After a strikeout, Lauren Sutherland grounded to the first baseman, who briefly hesitated before throwing home. Straub beat the throw to make it 1-1. Gilbertson led off the sixth with an infield single and went to second on a throwing error. Alli- son Wilhelm bunted her over to
third and Sutherland dropped a 1-0 pitch into right-center to put McLean up for good, 2-1. “It was a little blooper and I wanted a longer shot on that one,” Sutherland joked, “but it worked and that’s all that mat- tered.”
Sutherland stole second on the
next pitch to Megan Sullivan and went to third on a passed ball be- fore Sullivan hit a single to left to score Sutherland to make it 3-1. The Highlanders added an- other in the seventh, when Lau- ren McColgan led off with a sin- gle, advanced on an error and
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More championship coverage: Go online to see photo galleries, video highlights and postgame interviews from the weekend’s Virginia playoff action at Westfield and Radford at All
MetSports.com
sacrifice and scored on a wild pitch. Meantime, junior pitcher Ja- mie Bell was not the least bit in- timidated feeling the need to match Heinz. She scatted just six hits, struck out four, and made big pitches when she needed to, stranding five Confederates in scoring position. “We’ve been through enough tough situations that I can be a little cocky,” Bell said, “and I think, as a pitcher, you have to be.”
goldenbacha@washpost.com
VA. A GIRLS’ SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
Mustangs make it 3 in a row
by Jason Mackey
radford, va. — Squaring off against Radford High School at Radford University in the Vir- ginia A state championship game on Saturday morning, the George Mason girls’ soccer team was, for whatever reason, listed as the home team.
Of course, the Mustangs have
written quite a bit of history here — winning the past two state ti- tles — and they added to their legacy with a 3-1 win over Rad- ford, becoming only the third girls’ soccer team to win three in a row. “We always stay at the La Quin- ta hotel, so we say hello to the people working there because they know us, and they always say, ‘Hey, George Mason, we re- member you,’ ” junior midfielder Hannah Walker joked. Walker scored a pair of goals to
lead George Mason (18-3-1), while sophomore forward Leah Roth had a goal and an assist. After Radford pushed the tem- po in the game’s first 10 minutes, George Mason steadied itself and scored off its fourth corner kick — when Walker headed home a feed from Roth in the 24th minute. Radford scored its lone goal
late in the first half when George Mason goalkeeper Nicole Mitch- ell dove to her right to stop a pen- alty kick from Radford’s Maddy Denny, but Denny smartly banged home the rebound to tie the score at one.
Roth notched the game-winner in the 50th minute, emerging from a scrum with possession about 40 yards from the goal. Af- ter chipping a pass ahead to her- self, she maneuvered around Radford’s onrushing keeper and touched home a left-footed fin- ish.
Walker then executed a give-
and-go with Violet Miller less than five minutes later to give the Mustangs some breathing room. She left a pass for Miller at the top of the box before Miller threaded a beautiful return be- tween two Radford defenders about 10 yards shy of the goal. The final horn sent George Ma-
son’s players spilling onto the field in celebration, where they saluted their hometown fans — a group that, with three straight ti- tles at this complex, has become accustomed to making the four- hour drive. “It feels great to win this three years in a row,” Roth said.
mackeyj@washpost.com
GEORGE MASON 3 RADFORD 1
Three-sport star: George Mason sophomore Leah Roth also runs cross-country and plays basketball. In her six athletic seasons so far, Roth’s teams have won six state titles. Just checking: George Mason Athletic Director Tom Horn sent an e-mail on Wednesday to the VHSL, simply to confirm that his fans would be able to bring their drums and noisemakers — must-haves at George Mason soccer games.
TWO TITLE GAMES POSTPONED Thunderstorms in the Radford area forced the postponement of Saturday’s Virginia A boys’ soc- cer final between George Mason and Radford and the AA baseball final between Potomac Falls and Poquoson. Both games have been rescheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m.
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