Girls' Soccer

River Hill Sinks Centennial in Final

Eagles' Vorce and Hawks' Yancey Lead Their Teams With 3 Goals Each
By B.J. Koubaroulis

Special to The Washington Post

Wednesday, October 24, 2007; E09

During River Hill's 4-3 victory over visiting Centennial in last night's Howard County girls' soccer final, there were 22 players on the field.

Two of them made it their personal playground.

Centennial senior forward Alyssa Vorce and River Hill junior midfielder Brittany Yancey scored three goals apiece before the Hawks' Erica Suter touched in junior defender Amy Song's throw-in for the winner in the 75th minute.

Fourth-ranked River Hill (13-1-1) claimed its second consecutive county title and improved its unbeaten streak to 11. The Hawks, who went 20-0 in winning last season's Maryland 3A state title, have since dropped down a classification and enter the Maryland 2A South Region tournament as a No. 2 seed.

"Amy Song threw it in, and it was crazy in the box," Suter said of the winning goal from four yards. "The ball just found my foot, and I wasn't even looking; I just put it in."

Yancey's left-footed touch shot on a cross from Suter (16 goals) gave the Hawks the 1-0 lead in the third minute. Yancey sent a 30-yard corner kick that cleared the waiting mix of her teammates and defenders and bent in just behind the outstretched hands of Centennial's leaping goalkeeper to give River Hill a 2-1 lead in the 39th minute.

"I think we made a statement today," said Yancey (10 goals, 12 assists), who scored her third goal on Song's 25-yard throw-in to tie the game at 3 in the 64th minute. "It shows that any team that works the hardest can win."

River Hill has scored 11 times this season on throw-ins by Song.

"It's definitely an advantage when we get closer to the goal," said Song, whose two throw-in assists helped the Hawks rally from a 3-2 deficit in the second half. "It's almost like a corner kick, I guess you could say."

Vorce's second-half hat trick helped Centennial (11-3-1) rally from a 2-0 halftime deficit.

"I did not expect this," said Vorce, who has 12 goals this season. "I expected a low-scoring game where one goal makes the difference."

The Eagles will enter the Maryland 3A East Region tournament as a No. 2 seed.

Hawks Take Boys' Title, Too

River Hill junior midfielder Moni Sallam headed home junior defender Mike Doyle's cross in the 31st minute in the Hawks' 1-0 victory over visiting Oakland Mills in last night's Howard County boys' final.

The win helped the Hawks continue their rally from a 1-4 start. They have won 10 consecutive games since.

"It's a really good feeling to show everybody that we are still a big power," Sallam said.
River Hill (11-4) enters the Maryland 2A South Region tournament as a No. 2 seed, and Oakland Mills (9-3-1) will be seeded fourth.