Subscribe
Community
Patriots, H-town girls carry high seeds
Regional high school playoff previews
Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
|
|
E-Mail This Article
Huntingtown may have captured the top seed in the Class 3A South region girls soccer bracket –– featuring seven Southern Maryland Athletic Conference teams –– but it was Northern that received the favorable treatment from the playoff draw as if it had a No. 1 next to its name.
Second-seeded Northern (9-1-2), the two-time reigning champion of the 3A South, is an automatic choice to advance back to the regional final for a chance at a third straight berth into the state semifinals.
A pair of Prince George's County programs in Friendly and Largo –– hailing from a league that lacks the talent and competitiveness of the SMAC –– clash in the quarterfinals of the lower half of the bracket that Northern is situated in. Northern's quarterfinal opponent is the winner of the Westlake-Lackey first-round game slated for Friday. Westlake (0-12) and Lackey (1-11) have a combined one win in 23 games, and both handily lost to Northern during the regular season by 7-0 and 6-0 outcomes, respectively.
Huntingtown (10-1-1), on the other hand, has its work cut out after a first-round bye. The winner of the Chopticon-Crossland first-round affair today moves on to play Huntingtown in the regional quarterfinals Tuesday.
"Being the No. 1 seed is great, but our path is a lot more challenging than Northern's path. But that's not [Northern's] fault," said Huntingtown head coach Rob Soper, whose club's only loss came in 1-0 overtime fashion to SMAC champion Leonardtown –– the No. 2 seed in the 4A East. Huntingtown and Northern played to a scoreless tie during their regular season battle.
"When I get nervous is when I look at our side of the [regional] draw, and you have those unpredictable teams [in Chopticon, Stone and La Plata]. They can win a given game, and it's one-and-done in the playoffs."
Before Northern's current run of winning the last two 3A South crowns, Huntingtown pulled off the feat in 2005 and 2006.
Northern was the only SMAC team not to lose to Leonardtown in the regular season, finishing in a nothing-nothing tie. The only club to defeat Northern this year is North Point (9-3) by a 2-1 slight margin. North Point is randomly seeded fifth in the 4A East and poses a threat to any of the top-four seeds in that bracket.
In the 2A South, Calvert (7-4) earned the third seed and has a first-round bye. Calvert then plays the winner of the McDonough-Patuxent game, featuring the SMAC's other two teams in the region. Patuxent was 6-5-1 during the regular season, while McDonough went 4-8-1.
