2011-12 Sports Year in Review: Part 4

This is the last of a 4-part series as Viva Loudoun editor Dan Sousa takes a look at the 2011-12 high school sports year in Loudoun

Spring 2012: Woodgrove Takes Softball, Girls Soccer State Titles; T&F Stars Shine; Tuscarora Boys Soccer, Broad Run Girls Soccer, Softball Fall Just Short of State Titles

Baseball

Led by Northwest Region first team players Matt Malacane and Zach Newell, Freedom (18-8) captured the Cedar Run District title, took runner-up in region and advanced to the state playoffs for the first time in school history.

The state title appearance when junior Ryan Adams pitched his second postseason shutout in a 3-0 win over Forest Park in the regional semifinals. In the Cedar Run District finals, Adams tossed a 1-hitter and junior Colin Dean drove in a run and scored a run in a 2-0 win over Osbourn.

Freedom had won the regular season Cedar Run title finishing one game ahead of Osbourn and Patriot.

Stone Bridge (17-7) were the top seed  in a tough Liberty District with a 11-3 campaign. The Bulldogs then won the Liberty District tournament, beating McLean, 3-1, in the championship game. Tyler Mocabee finished with eight strikeouts including the final three outs to claim the win.

In the first round of the Northern Region tournament, Stone Bridge trailed Oakton, 3-0, in the bottom of the sixth before rallying for four runs with Mocabee stranding the bases loaded in the final inning to secure the victory. The Bulldogs then ran into eventual AAA state champion Lake Braddock in the regional quarterfinals.

Potomac Falls (21-4) ruled the AA Dulles District in the regular season behind Dulles District Player of the Year Jackson Rogers as the Panthers went 18-2 and claimed the regular-season title. Loudoun Valley (17-8), however, turned the tables on Potomac Falls in the district tournament, knocking off the Panthers 4-2 in the title game to end Potomac Falls’ winning streak at 18 straight games.

Max Hughes picked up the win for Valley in the title game and Danny Pugh led the hitters, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored.

Woodgrove (18-6) finished runner-up in the Dulles District regular-season with outfielder Josh Sweet and first baseman Scott VanSteelant both named first team Region II as wwere Potomac Falls’ Rogers and Loudoun County DH Cabot Phillips.

Both Potomac Falls and Loudoun Valley advanced to the Region II semifinals but fell short of qualifying for States as the Panthers lost to Powhatan, 10-7, in a crazy 13-inning game in Sterling and Valley lost to Monticello.

Heritage (11-13), like Loudoun Valley, returning to AA after playing up at AAA the previous two years, upset Liberty, 6-2, in the first round of the playoffs behind the play of Zack Hopeck, who had the win and the game-tying RBI and Dan Robinson’s 3-RBI night, but then the Pride ran into Potomac Falls in the regional quarterfinals.

Softball

In 2011 a first-year Woodgrove softball program matured as the season went along and made it all the way to the AA state finals before falling to Dulles District rival Briar Woods.

In 2012, Woodgrove (27-2) returned to the state finals and this time it was all Wolverines as Allie Reid threw a 2-hitter at Radford and hit a home run for good measure to lead the Wolverines to the VHSL state title with a 9-0 win over Broadway in the one-sided title game.

Woodgrove’s state title was the ninth brought back to Loudoun since 2000 with Wolverine coach Joe Spicer collecting state titles in 2003 and 2005 at Loudoun Valley before he left to start the Woodgrove program two years ago.

It was a dominating season for Woodgrove as the Wolverines out-scored opponents in the state tournament 15-1, in the Region II tournament 13-3, and in the Dulles District tournament 23-0 for a 9-game postseason playoff total of 51-4.

The Wolverines had only five seniors on the roster but they provided veteran leadership in key spots with Reid and catcher Christy Haney a rock-solid battery; Amanda Rathjen at third and Courtney Bogan in the outfield were also anchors. Junior Ashley Cole was the top hitter for Woodgrove and she clobbered a home run in the state semifinal win over Abingdon.

Briar Woods (22-5) probably would have been in Radford challenging Woodgrove for the state title but the Falcons ran into Poquoson pitcher Maggie Tyler who not only held the Falcons to one hit in a 1-0 state quarterfinal win but broke up Macy Jones’ no-hitter with a hit in the seventh inning that started the winning rally.

For Jones, Region II Pitcher of the Year and Dulles District Player of the Year, it was the end to a brilliant 4-year career that saw her lead the Falcons to the 2011 state title. She will play outfield next year for Penn State. Briar Woods went 86-18 during Jones’s reign.

It figured that Ashburn would send a AAA team to the Final 4 at Westfield High School but it was a bit of a surprise when it was Broad Run (18-6), not Stone Bridge (24-3) advancing.

Both teams had won district titles with Stone Bridge claiming the Liberty District and Broad Run the Cedar Run District and both teams had won regional titles with Stone Bridge winning the Northern Region and Broad Run the Northwest Region but the Bulldogs had gotten the lion’s share of the publicity on the season while the Spartans flew under the radar.

While Stone Bridge was stopped by Patrick Henry-Ashland, 4-0, in a state quarterfinal in Ashburn, Broad Run, just down the road, was beating Hickory, 2-1, to advance to the state semifinals with a clutch two-out hit by freshman Madison Smalls and a spectacular defensive play by third base Amanda Pugh in the seventh inning to preserve the win.

Both the Ashburn schools had exciting wins to take their respective regional titles with Broad Run beating Osbourn Park, 7-3, in 10 innings and Stone Bridge rallying for three runs in the seventh inning to beat Oakton, 5-4. The Spartans season finally came to an end in a 10-2 loss to Cosby in the state semifinals.

Stone Bridge was led by the hard-hitting Sydney Broderick and Northern Region as well as Liberty District Player of the Year, shortstop Niki Prince on the season, both juniors. Broad Run was led by outfielders Frankie Bellar and McKall Miller, both first team all region.

Woodgrove captured the Region II title by edging Briar Woods, 3-2, and the Wolverines edged Briar Woods, 1-0, to win the Dulles District title. The Falcons advanced to the district finals after Jones lifted the team to a 1-0 win over Loudoun County  (17-8) in the semifinals with a shutout win and the walkoff game-winning RBI singles.

Stone Bridge won the Liberty District tournament with a 2-1 win over Madison. Broad Run, after winning the Cedar Run regular season, could not add the district tournament title as the finals were wiped out by several days of rain.

Soccer

Woodgrove girls soccer undefeated run to the VHSL AA state title wasn't just a one-year display of athletic mastery or even a two-year quest to avenge a 1-0 state semifinal loss to Blacksburg last season.

It was a 3-year epic journey, born in heartbreak at Loudoun Valley High School in 2010 when nine of this year's 11 starters were underclassmen on the Vikings team that fell in penalty kicks to Cosby in the AAA state semifinals, forged in bitterness when the first-year Wolverines out-played Blacksburg in 2011 only to lose 1-0, and finally it ended in Radford this spring as Woodgrove brought home the new school's first ever state title with a 3-0 win over Dulles District foe Loudoun County.

It was the second time in three years that the AA state finals was an all-Loudoun affair as Loudoun County fell to Broad Run in 2009 during the Spartans 4-year run at the top.

With a roster that features a dozen girls committed to play college soccer -- including six juniors and six seniors -- expectations were indeed high for Woodgrove this season and the Wolverines made good with a 24-0-1 season that included 23 straight wins after an opening week 0-0 tie with Briar Woods.

For Loudoun County (18-5-2) it was a season in which the Raiders did everything they could do … except for beat Woodgrove as County fell five times to the Purcellville team including losses in the Dulles District, Region II and then state title games.

Loudoun wasn’t just strong at AA but also had powerful AAA teams as Stone Bridge (16-3-2) won the Northern Region after a perfect 7-0-0 Liberty District regular season and Freedom (13-4-2) had the best season in school history, capturing the Cedar Run District regular-season title on the final night of the season.

Broad Run (14-4-5), moving up to AAA from AA, suffered as many losses and ties during the regular season than they did during their four straight AA state title from 2008 to 2011 but the Spartans came together at the right time, upended Freedom in the Cedar Run District title game, knocked off the metro area’s top team, Forest Park, in the Northwestern Region tournament, as well as surviving in penalty kicks on the road in another win, and then shocked highly-ranked Kellam, ranked No. 10 in the nation by one poll, in the state quarterfinals.

The incredible run didn’t stop for the Spartans until the state finals when their magic finally ran out, just barely, as Cosby beat Broad Run in penalty kicks after 100 minutes of scoreless soccer. Broad Run had advanced to the finals with a 1-0 win over Deep Run on Darbie Kelley’s early penalty kick in the semifinals.

It was Deep Run that had knocked off Stone Bridge in the state quarterfinals, stopping the run of the Bulldogs high-scoring junior forwards Ashley Herndon and Murielle Tiernan with Tiernan being named the Washington Post’s All Met Player of the Year.

Broad Run senior Erin Brady and freshman Caroline Kerns, who had several huge clutch goals in the playoffs, were named first team all Northwest Region as was Freedom’s Mallory Ullrich.

The Woodgrove girls road to the state title was almost derailed in the state quarterfinals when the Wolverines found themselves in overtime against Grafton but Ashley Bonner scored two goals in the 10-minute extra time for the 3-1 win. Woodgrove then shut out Blacksburg 3-0 in the semifinals while Loudoun County scored with three minutes left to knock off Jefferson Forest, 1-0, in the other semi.

Loudoun County senior forward Shauna Kain was named the Dulles District Player of the Year as well as the Region II Player of the Year. Woodgrove’s Lucy Etro and Sarah Hardison were also first team all region as was Loudoun County’s Alana Mackey and Kelsey Slack.

On the boys side not as many teams made deep runs in the playoffs but that didn’t stop Loudoun from making headlines in Radford as second-year Tuscarora (21-3-2), led by Dulles District Player of the Year Angel Ceron-Garcia, shocked Blacksburg, 4-1, in the state semifinals and lost a close AA state title game to Jamestown, 4-3, in a very entertaining final.

Blacksburg had just one loss on the season and that was to Jefferson Forest, playing Jamestown in the other semifinal, and the Bruins were hoping for a rematch only to have Ceron-Garcia score two first-half goals and then Francisco Salvador, the only senior on Tuscarora’s roster, to score two second-half goals for the upset.

Jamestown came down late to beat Jefferson Forest and had to fight off a Tuscarora comeback in the state title game. The Huskies were down 2-0 and 3-1 in the AA final but rallied with Ceron-Garcia scoring twice in a quick second-half span only to have Jamestown get the game winner with less than 10 minutes to play.

Freedom (13-5-2), led by lanky striker Phillip McQuitty, had the best season in school history with both the Cedar Run regular-season and district tournament titles before they fell in the regional semifinals.

Briar Woods (18-4-2) finished the Dulles District regular season tied with Tuscarora and then the Falcons beat the Huskies in penalty kicks in a special playoff for the district’s top seed. Tuscarora, however, beat Briar Woods in Ashburn in both the Dulles District and Region II tournament title games. The Falcons ran into Jamestown into the state quarterfinals and saw their season, best in school history, end.

Woodgrove (8-7-2) did not advance to the Region II tournament after Loudoun County (7-10-4) knocked off the Wolverines in the district quarterfinals but the Wolverines had quite a turnaround from 2011 when they were 1-15 overall, finishing third in 2012 in the district race.

Loudoun County and Park View (11-9-1) showed the district’s depth with wins on the road in the first round of the Region II tournament before falling in the quarterfinals.

Lacrosse

Woodgrove High School was the place to be in the postseason for lacrosse as the Wolverine boys and girls won AA Northern Sectional titles and hosted a VHSL state quarterfinal doubleheader. Though Woodgrove lost to AAA Northern Region powers in those state games – boys fell to Chantilly 11-2 and girls to Langley 13-7 -- it was still an achievement for the Wolverines, especially on the same day that the Woodgrove girls soccer team and softball teams claimed regional titles.

Woodgrove girls (15-4) taking the sectional title was not a surprise but it was a surprise for the Woodgrove boys (15-6) as the Wolverines were the No. 3 seed coming out of the Dulles District, behind Briar Woods (16-2) and Dominion (13-8).

Briar Woods, behind the play of sectional and district Player of the Year Connor Cashman, had complete a perfect 9-0 run through the district regular season and captured the district tournament title but the Falcons had a history of falling behind before coming back for wins and in the sectional semifinals, Woodgrove, behind some fine play of goalie Cody Cunningham and defender Tucker Coil and attack Chad Niergarth, got ahead at Briar Woods and stayed ahead for the win, 12-10.

Woodgrove, now on a roll, then knocked off Dominion, 9-8, in Sterling to claim the sectional title. Dominion had advanced with a semifinal win over Kettle Run that was delayed by weather for three nights.

The Woodgrove girls rolled through sectionals, beating Loudoun Valley (12-7), 21-11, and then Loudoun County (15-6), 15-9, for the championship.

Both the Dominion boys, led by Brett Bushman, Nick Kierschke and Troy Farmer, and the Loudoun County girls, led by Haley Knudsen, advanced to the state tournament where they fell on the road to AAA Northern Region champions with Dominion losing to Langley 18-5 and Loudoun County to Oakton, 20-2.

The Broad Run boys (8-9) and Stone Bridge boys (8-7) were knocked out of the first round of regionals in AAA play.

The Freedom girls had a nice 12-3 season in AAA but fell victim to Broads Run (10-8) in the Cedar Run District semifinals.

Stone Bridge attack Dylan Maltz and goalie Jesse Southward were both named Northern Region first team.

The Dulles District boys lacrosse season was a very watchable close scramble all season with the district tournament telling the tale: in the semifinals, Briar Woods beat Loudoun Valley, 11-10, in overtime and Dominion edged Woodgrove, 9-8, before a title game won by Briar Woods over Dominion, 9-8, in overtime.

Tennis

The 2012 season was all about unbeaten teams as Loudoun had not one, not two, not three … but four teams go unbeaten in the regular season. For the Freedom boys (22-1), Loudoun County boys (19-1), Broad Run girls (17-1) and Woodgrove girls (18-1) the first loss of the season was their last lost as each of the team’s only defeat knocked them out of postseason play.

Freedom boys, led by top player Wesley Wong, claimed the Cedar Run District and Northwestern Region titles and advanced to the AAA Final 4 in Virginia Beach before falling.

Loudoun County boys claimed the Dulles District season with an unbeaten run and advanced to the Region II semifinals before falling. The Raiders beat Kettle Run in the quarterfinals, 5-1, but lost to Handley. Briar Woods, Dulles District runner-up, beat Fauquier on the road, 5-1 in the quarterfinals but the Falcons were knocked out by eventual Region II champion Western Albemarle.

The Broad Run girls won the Cedar Run District tournament titles before falling in Northwest Region play, claiming the school’s best season ever.

Woodgrove, another great second-year program from Purcellville, rolled through the Dulles District season unbeaten before falling in Region II play. Woodgrove beat Skyline in the quarterfinals, 5-1, but lost 5-3 to eventual regional champion Western Albemarle.

Wolverine senior Sunnie Lampl won both the Dulles District  and Region II titles in singles and advanced to the state tournament where she lost in the AA state semifinals. Lampl did not drop a set while defending her Region II title. She also repeated as Dulles District singles champion.

Lampl and her doubles partner Lucia Jacangelo captured the Dulles District title with a perfect season but fell in the Region II semifinals. Also falling in the regional semifinals were the Dominion duo of Dominique Huynh and Kate Gorbach.

The Broad Run girls doubles team of Mel Waterman and Clara Sartor finished runner-up in the Northwest Region tournament to advance to the VHSL AAA state quarterfinals where the Spartan duo lost to the eventual state runner-ups, a team from Cosby.

Dominion’s Alex Chou was unbeaten in the regular season, won the Dulles District tournament and advanced to the AA Region II finals with straight set wins in the regional quarterfinals and semifinals before falling Cam Scott of Western Albemarle, who claimed the state title in Radford.

Chou and doubles partner Jake Stapleton won the Dulles District title but fell in the Region II semifinals to Scott and his partner.

In the end it was the Freedom boys advancing deeper than any of the other teams in the playoffs with a win over Cox in the quarterfinals and then a loss to eventual AAA state champion Deep Run, 5-2, in the AAA state semifinals. The state quarterfinal win was par for the course for the Eagles on the season as Freedom blitzed Cox with Wong, Alex Cragg, Brian Park, Varun Kulkarni and David Choi all winning in straight sets. Tin Nguyen-Phan was still on the court when the win was clinched.

Track and Field

The Loudoun County High School boys track and field team fell just shy of claiming the AA VHSL state title, scoring just two points shy of champion E.C. Glass.

The Raiders finished with 48 points while Glass scored 50 with the state meet coming down to the final race as Loudoun County took third in the 4x400 meter realy with the quartet of junior Steven Graham, sophomore Nolan Graves, junior Patrick Joseph and senior Teddy Murphy turning in a 3:23.24 for a third place finish and six points.

That would have been enough for County to claim the crown but Glass shaved almost 90 seconds off their seed time to sneak into sixth place and score a crucial three points that turned out to be the difference. (It should also be noted that Glass picked up five points in the pole vault, an event that Loudoun athletes are not allowed to compete in). Woodgrove girls took fifth place.

Joseph had a double-title meet claiming the 800 meters with a 1:54.41 and then the 1600 meters with a 4:15.71. Graham won the 400 meters state title with a 49.01.

Heritage senior Marcus Finney capped his great prep career in style with wins in the 110 meter hurdles (state record 14.10) and 300 meter hurdles (38.53) as well as a fourth in the 100 meters (10.98). Raider Murphy was third in the 100 hurdles (14.57) and the 300 meter hurdles as well at 39.08

Woodgrove's Atem Ntantag scored a sixth in the triple jump at 43-10.00. Briar Woods senior Schaefer Beardsley was third in the discus with a 149-09 heave.

Briar Woods senior Shaquera Leach finished her brilliant career with a third in the 200 meters (25.31), third in the 400 meters (56.99) and a sixth in the 100 meters (12.32). Raider Murphy

Woodgrove senior Anna Harpster took fourth in the 400 meters (58.67) and fifth in the 200 meters (25.88).

Dulles District girls took three of the eight top spots in the 800 meters with Woodgrove's Audrey Houghton  second (2:15.19), Dominion's Bridget Rice third (2:18.94) and Heritage's Lisa Pallotta eighth (2:20.93). Rice also took sixth in the 1600 meters (5:14.09).

Houghton ran anchor on the Woodgrove winning 4x800 meter relay team with Lydia Cromwell, Florence Thompson and Alex Juzbasich claiming the gold with a 9:33.80. Tuscarora claimed All-State with an eighth place finish by Jannen Hermann, Courtney Walker, Natalie Rosas and Ann Wasko at 9:50.77.

Houghton, Thompson and Harpster teamed with sophomore Gaynor Houghton to take second in the 4x400 relay with a 4:02.94. Fauteux anchored the Potomac Falls team with Jessica Lee, Dominique White and Tori Daczkowski to a fourth place finish at 4:05.93.

Tuscarora girls were strong in the field events with Madison Wells and Lori Kostka tying for fifth in the high jump at 5-00. Teammate Amirah Al-Bayyinah was third in the triple jump (36-10.50).

Potomac Falls senior Eileen Fauteux medaled in both hurdles with a third in the 300 meters (45.72) and seventh in 100 meters (15.66). Tuscarora junior Takiea Edmonds was fifth in the 300 meter hurdles with a 46.89.

At the AAA state meet, Broad Run High School senior Jonathan Russell finished a brilliant prep career with a first place. Russell, who will run in college at South Carolina, ran a 37.95 to win the 300 meter hurdles by almost a full second. He was also 9th in the 200 meters.

Also on the boys side, Stone Bridge sophomore D'Ante Yarborough finished fifth in the 110 meter hurdles with a 14.56 finals.

The Freedom High School girls track and field 4x100 relay team of Amanda Salami, Toni Fletcher, Asia Brown and Cortney O'Connell turned in a 48.66 to place 7th overall.

At the Region II meet, the only thing slowing down the Loudoun County High School boys track and field team from running to history were frequent weather delays at Tuscarora High school. When the all clear was given, it was all Raiders breaking the tape as Loudoun County took six of the eight events on the track and finished runner-up in the other two as they won their first ever regional title going away.

Loudoun County, with juniors Graham winning the 100 (11.00), 200 (22.29) and 400 (48.28) and Joseph winning the 800 (1:54.98) and 1600 (4:15.82), scored 84 points to finish nearly 30 points clear of runner-up Fauquier (56).

The 48.28 for Graham in the 400 was the lone Region II mark to fall at the meet Adding to the Raiders point lode were senior Murphy who won the 300 meter hurdles with a school-record 38.44, beating runner-up Heritage's Marcus Finney (39.28). Finney turned the tables in the 110 hurdles winning with a 14.46 to Murphy's runner-up 14.58.

In the only non-hurdle track event no won by the Raiders, the 3200 meters, County finished 2-3 with seniors Josh Showalter and Bruce McIntosh combining for 14 team points.

On the girls side, Woodgrove finished fourth with 38 points.

The Wolverine girls quartet of senior Houghton, senior Cromwell, junior Juzbasich and senior Thompson won the 4x800 relay with a finals time of 9:32.73 that clipped more than 10 seconds off their season best time. Houghton and Thompson then teamed with sophomore Gaynor Houghton and senior Anna Harpster to take the 4x400 relay, this time shaving more than four seconds off their best time with a 4:04.94.

Houghton was one of two Loudoun's individual girls winners with a winning 2:15.04 in the 800 meters. Tuscarora's Natalie Rosas won the 3200 meters with a 11:28.08.

At the district level, Loudoun County boys and Tuscarora girls took team titles in the Dulles.

Loudoun County's Graham swept all three sprints (100, 200 and 400 meters) and won the long jump for four individual titles. In one of the most exciting races of the evening, Graham nipped Heritage's Finney in the 100 meters, 10.94 to 10.96.

Finney had set the district meet record in prelims with a 10.91. Finney continued his record-setting ways with a 14.42 in the 100 meter hurdles. Graham's time of 49.15 in the 400 meters was also a district record.

Briar Woods' Shaquera Leach swept all three sprints on the girls side including district meet records in the 100 meters (12.24) and 200 meters (25.07).

Potomac Falls' Fauteux ruled the hurdles for the girls with titles in the 100 and 300 meters and a leg on the Panthers winning 4x100 relay team. The 300 meters time of 45.83 was a meet record and assured Fauteux of family bragging rights as it eclipsed her older sister Nicole's Potomac Falls school mark.

More meet records fell as Woodgrove's Houghton turned in a 2:17.73 in the 800 meters and Tuscarora's Lori Kostka jumped 5-04 in the high jump. Kostka was also on the Huskies winning 4x400 meter relay team.

Joseph (winning  800 and 1600 meters) and Showalter (3200 meters) made it a clean sweep for the Raiders from 100 to 3200 meters on the track. Murphy finished runner-up in both hurdles for the Raiders or else it would have been an amazing clean sweep for County in all individual events on the track. Joseph and Murphy were also half of the Raiders winning 4x400 meter relay team.

Amirah Al-Bayyinah helped Tuscarora win the girls title with gold in the long and triple jumps.