State girls soccer playoffs off to Baltimore for championship finale

There won’t be a “perfect” ending for Broadneck High’s girls soccer team. The Bruins’ bid for an unbeaten season and a Class 4A state championship ended Saturday with a 1-0 loss to Montgomery County’s Quince Orchard in a state semifinal contest at Blair in Silver Spring.

Caroline Donmoyer’s goal midway through the opening half was all Quince Orchard needed as it will face Montgomery County rival Whitman for the state championship Saturday afternoon at Loyola University’s Ridley Athletic Center.

It was the first and only loss of the season for Broadneck (16-1-4 overall), which went unbeaten in its first 20 games, including a victory over IAAM A champ and Mercy. The Anne Arundel County champs played IAAM A squads Archbishop Spalding to ties as well as league rivals Severna Park and Crofton.

Crofton, in its second varsity season, is headed to Loyola for a chance at a first championship, courtesy of a 4-0 victory over Southern Maryland’s Huntingtown in a 3A state semifinal on its home turf Saturday.

The seventh-ranked Cardinals (14-1-1) put the game away in the second half with three goals in a 10-minute window. Meghan Piazza, Maddy Cook and Alana Morris scored for Crofton, which got a first half tally from senior Cassidy Nichols.

The Cardinals will match up with reigning state champ and No. 5 Mount Hebron, Thursday at 5 p.m. at Ridley. The Vikings’ repeat pursuit continued with a 1-0 victory over previously unbeaten Frederick County’s Oakdale in the other semifinal at Crofton Saturday.

Maria Brongo’s first half goal and another stellar defensive performance punched the Ellicott City school’s ticket back to Baltimore. The Vikings (13-2-1) posted their 13th shutout of the season while Brongo’s tally was the first allowed by Oakdale (15-1-3) since Sept. 14.

The 2A final Friday will also be an all-Baltimore affair with 12th-ranked Glenelg and No. 14 Century. The defending 2A state champ Gladiators rallied past Hereford, 3-2, in a rematch of last year’s 2A final Friday evening at Gaithersburg in Montgomery County.

Ginny Sung’s goal in the 43rd minute capped a three-goal run by the Howard County squad, which trailed 2-0 in the opening half on scores from Hereford’s Lauren Orner and Lindsey Moneymaker.

Stephanie Lathrop’s free kick tally in the 32nd minute, a minute after Moneymaker’s score, began Glenelg’s comeback. Less than a minute into the second half, Lathrop buried a penalty kick after Hereford was whistled for a handball.

Two minutes later, Glenelg (13-3) went ahead for good as Sung finished a cross from Isabelle Brought. The Gladiators have won 11 straight after a 2-3 start.

Century, which lost to Glenelg in a preseason scrimmage, got second half goals from Jane Brewer and Sophia Taylor to end Sparrows Point’s unlikely run Saturday in Gaithersburg.

The Knights (13-3) last won a state title in 2013. The Pointers, who stunned previously unbeaten Calvert County’s Calvert, widely considered the best public team in the state and which defeated McDonogh early in the regular season, in the quarterfinals, finished the season 6-11-1.

No. 13 Fallston will get the chance to defend its 1A state crown after rallying past previously undefeated Perryville in a state semifinal at Frederick County’s Linganore. Ella Montgomery and Katherine King each tallied in the second half for the Cougars (15-3).

Sarah Murrell put Perryville up 1-0 in the opening half. The Panthers, whose prior state final four appearance was in 2006 (reached 1A final) finished 14-1.

Kylie Malone was the hero as South Carroll punched its ticket to a final matchup with Fallston with a 2-1 overtime decision over Allegany. Lauren Chesney’s shot in the box was deflected by Allegany goalie Shylah Taylor, but Malone was there to knock the ball into the net, sending the Carroll County school to its first state final.

Fallston will attempt to become the first team to go back-to-back in 1A since Sparrows Point’s record run of six straight from 2013 to 2018.

MPSSAA GIRLS SOCCER TOURNAMENT

State semifinals

Saturday

CLASS 1A at Linganore

South Carroll 2, Allegany 1

Fallston 2, Perryville 1

CLASS 2A at Gaithersburg

Century 2, Sparrows Point 0

CLASS 3A at Crofton

Mount Hebron 1, Oakdale 0

Crofton 4, Huntingtown 0

CLASS 4A at Blair

Quince Orchard 1, Broadneck 0

Friday

CLASS 2A at Gaithersburg

Glenelg 3, Hereford 2

State finals

at Ridley Athletic Center, Loyola University

Thursday

CLASS 3A final - Mount Hebron vs. Crofton, 5 p.m.

Friday

CLASS 2A final - Glenelg vs. Century, 5 p.m.

Saturday

CLASS 1A final - South Carroll vs. Fallston, 12 p.m.

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