Molyneux’s goal lifts Havre de Grace to state final

The Warriors’ offensive attack was hushed the first 70 minutes of Saturday’s Class 1A girls soccer state semifinal, with shots on goal coming few and far between. That’s both the top-seeded Mardela Warriors and the No. 5 Warriors from Havre de Grace.

Credit two stout defenses and a pair of impassable goalkeepers: Lexie Guy for Mardela and Cassidy Howes for Havre de Grace. But for a ticket to the state final Saturday at noon against Perryville at Loyola Maryland’s Ridley Athletic Complex, all it took was one shot.

That one came courtesy of Sophie Molyneux on a corner kick rebound, leading to Havre de Grace’s 1-0 win.

“We had so many corners we just couldn’t finish,” Havre de Grace coach Lea Cataggio said. “I told them just put your entire body, put whatever piece of body you have on it and get the ball in the damn net.”

Molyneux noticed each of the previous corners from sophomore defender Sarah Weitzel wound up in the roughly the same spot. So on the decisive one, Molyneux was adamant about getting to that spot ready with any body part, as Cataggio told them.

“I just remember trying to head it and it bounced back off so I one-timed it,” Molyneux said. “All I try to do on corners is get to the ball, whatever body part it is. … It just felt insane.”

Havre de Grace doesn’t reach this point without Howes’ dominance between the pipes. The Warriors keeper, one of four seniors, has allowed only one goal this postseason (against Liberty in the state quarterfinals) with clean sheets over Joppatowne, Patterson Mill and Mardela.

“She’s amazing,” Cataggio said. “I can tell you, she is the dominant goalie in the state for 1A.”

Mt. Hebron 1, Oakdale 0: Trailing by one with five minutes left in the game, Oakdale sophomore forward Brooke Clagett raced to the ball in the box. Clagett, who entered Saturday’s Class 3A state semifinal with a team-high 19 goals, looked to draw her team even with Mt. Hebron.

Vikings senior defender and captain Ainsley Wilson had other ideas. Wilson dove and knocked the ball away, preventing a prime goal-scoring opportunity. That critical sequence kept the Vikings on top but also epitomized Mt. Hebron’s composure and determination, two defining characteristics of this year’s group.

Saturday night at Tuscarora, the No. 3 seed Vikings clinched an opportunity to add yet another chapter to their story with a 1-0 win over No. 2 seed Oakdale. The Vikings will face top-seed Severna

Havre de Grace’s Sophie Molyneux, right, celebrates with teammate Emily Ewers after scoring in the second half against Mardela during Saturday’s Class 1A state semifinal.

Park at Loyola Maryland’s Ridley Athletic Complex on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

After ending the Bears’ season each of the past two years, Mt. Hebron knew Oakdale would come out motivated. The youthful Bears played with a high intensity from the opening whistle. The veteran Vikings matched that fire leading to a defensive-oriented opening 20 minutes.

However, the Vikings broke through in the 21st minute. Hoover took a feed from fellow senior Leen Jawhar with a defender close by. The senior knew in that moment she was either going to draw a foul or take the shot. She cut off the defender and tucked the shot inside of near post for the go-ahead goal.

With a stout and experienced back line, Hoover’s goal was all Mt. Hebron (15-1) needed. Twice, Oakdale played a through ball forward to a seemingly open runner. However, junior goalie Emily Canseven quickly thwarted those opportunities, aggressively coming out of goal to clear the ball upfield. That aggressive mentality has always been a part of the junior’s game, now back healthy after missing last season with an injury.

“That support from my teammates is really helpful to me,” Canseven said. “That aggressiveness is something I’ve always had. My freshman year, I always came out and ran through people if I had to. Got yellow cards if I had to, but it’s just about my teammates supporting me. I know that if I mess up, there’s someone covering me. Every time I go up, there’s someone covering me going backward.”

Montgomery Blair 2, Perry Hall 0: Perry Hall and Montgomery Blair’s girls soccer programs have some recent history against each other.

Perry Hall got the best of Blair a few times in recent years, including a 2019 semifinal, which created a competitive undertone to Saturday’s Class 4A state semifinal and gave the Blazers some added motivation.

Blair coach Bobby Gibb, who has been at the school for 35 years, wanted this to be a revenge game for the players who lost to Perry Hall before. With Saturday’s 2-0 victory, he has that and a chance to beat Walt Whitman on Friday and win a state championship, which has eluded him his entire coaching career.

Earlier in the week, Perry Hall coach Matthew Smoot said he felt his team was peaking at the right time and felt things were going well for the Gators. Despite Perry Hall’s aggressive shots throughout the game, Blair held Perry Hall’s number the entire way.

“I felt the offensive strategy was good,” Smoot said. “Thought we were controlling the pace of play, the run of play, for the first half. We allowed a goal early — just a backdoor run by them — but we knocked on the door pretty much all half.”

Walt Whitman 3, Glen Burnie 0: The standard is still high. That’s what coach Kreghan Rebstock-Lane is taking away, once the final buzzer sounded and her Glen Burnie team’s historic season ended in the Class 4A state semifinals.

Tears flooded the field and hugs were exchanged between Gophers, from seniors like goalkeeper Pe’la Saunders and defender McKenzie Gilbert, with the younger players who gave everything to support their upperclassmen’s mission, but fell short of what would’ve been the program’s first state championship game berth.

That disappointment was impossible for the Gophers (13-5-1) to overlook as they collected themselves and tapped hands with victorious Walt Whitman — a powerhouse from Montgomery County that played in the past two title games and is headed back after the 3-0 win. But Rebstock-Lane wants her Gophers to remember that the very dreams that just ended only existed in the first place because they had the tenacity to build them.

Before this bunch, Glen Burnie had never been within 50 feet of a state-level conversation. This group not only achieved the program’s first region title, but first state quarterfinal win and first state semifinal appearance.

“They flipped it completely around,” Rebstock-Lane said. “The standard is so high.”