Mt. Hebron advances to 3A championship
Vikings trying to bring back girls lacrosse crown; Severna Park boys roll
Captains Erin Demek, Julia Leishear, Annie Ryan and Ellie Miller brought their teammates into the school gym to show them the banners representing Mount Hebron girls lacrosse decorated history. They were a part of a program that has won 15 state championships — more than any other Maryland public school — and did so in the span of 16 years from 1992 to 2007.
But since that historic domination, the Vikings made the state championship just once (2009) and last won a regional title in 2012.
“We took the girls into the gym,” Demek recalled, “and we said, ‘That banner says 2007. It’s been 11 years. That needs to change.”
Mount Hebron (13-5) overcame a lethargic start Friday night to win 12-7 and upend Class 3A South champion Huntingtown (15-3) and advance to the state championships. The Vikings will take on the winner of Bel Air and Westminster early next week at Stevenson University.
“Mount Hebron has been pretty good, and then in the past few years we’ve fallen off a little bit,” said Demek, who tallied three goals and three assists in the victory. “We didn’t like that. We were not OK with that. And so we all decided that we were going to put in the work every single day.
“We were going to come to practice, it didn’t matter if you had a bad day. You were putting 110 percent into every practice, and that’s really paid off.”
Boys
NO. 7 HEREFORD13, DAMASCUS3: JD Nozemack scored five goals and added three assists to lead the Bulls (17-2) to a13-3 victory over the Hornets (13-3) in the Class 2A North state semifinals at Northeast.
Grafton Griffey added three goals and Harry Traynor and Gavin Schatall had two each for the winners, who advance to the state championship game against the winner of Marriotts Ridge and Kent Island.
NO. 10 SEVERNA PARK 17, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT 1: After dispatching of rival Broadneck in the region final, the Falcons (16-2) were optimistic about its chances to win a third consecutive state title.
They wasted no time asserting themselves in the state semifinal Friday, scoring in the first minute en route to an eight-goal first quarter, dispatching the Raiders (16-1) at Gaithersburg to advance to next week’s state championship game at Stevenson University.
Chase Cope got the scoring started in the first minute when he muscled his way to the goal and fired it in just inside the left post. Cope finished with a goal and an assist.
Jack Coffman fired one overhand from long range just 49 seconds later to set the tone for the remainder of the contest. Coffman had a goal and an assist.
The path to a Falcons third straight title will now go through the winner of Howard and Winston Churchill, who will face off in the other state semifinal Saturday at Gaithersburg.
NORTHERN-CALVERT 12, CENTENNIAL 11: The Patriots (18-1) went on a 5-0 run in the first half and Abe Hubbard finished with a game-high six goals to lead Northern-Calvert past the Eagles (12-6) in a Class 3A state semifinal at Mount Hebron.
Centennial cut the lead to three four times in the third quarter before scoring twice more in the fourth to trim the Patriots’ lead to one, 12-11. Alex Sheehan wasn’t tested often but the sophomore goalie made two one-on-one saves in the final two minutes and Northern-Calvert held on to beat Centennial, 12-11, to advance to the 3A state championship game one year after winning the 3A/2A state title.
The defending champion Patriots will play either Towson or Westminster in the final at Stevenson University May 22-24.