Staff Writer
Gov. Thomas Johnson High School girls soccer coach Craig Muschik knew his team had secured the best record in the Piedmont Conference, but he wasn't certain of the tiebreakers and whether Tuscarora could claim a share of the title.
"I have to check, or if you want to call Mark Wolcott, he'd be able to tell you," Muschik said.
Wolcott's team, Tuscarora, has held all the answers for Frederick County girls soccer lately, winning three state titles in the previous seven years. But the top-seeded Titans will face plenty of local challengers this year in the stacked 3A West, including Linganore (No. 3 seed), Urbana (No. 4 seed) and Thomas Johnson, which won the conference outright because of a tiebreaker instituted a few years ago, but still didn't earn a playoff seed.
"TJ, right now entering the playoffs, I think is a team that — they ended up not being in the top four teams, but the No. 1 team everybody has to look at," Wolcott said. "Late in the year, a lot of it is, where are you at heading into the playoffs? So, they've kind of found a run in the last couple weeks.
"The seed is where it is, but they're going to be very, very dangerous."
Wolcott said his team would like a rematch with Thomas Johnson, which beat Tuscarora, 1-0, earlier in the season. But for Thomas Johnson to get that far, it would have to win without injured goalie Kelsey Rhoderick (broken nose) in the first round and beat Linganore in the second round. Linganore, which won its most games in a season in at least 10 years, beat Thomas Johnson earlier in the season, their first win over TJ in at least seven years.
Tuscarora will have the upper hand throughout region play, because the Titans' No. 1 seed means hosting all their matches.
"We enjoy that we're home, but I don't think there's any small sense that we're truly the No. 1 seed," Wolcott said. "We know it's a very open event with five teams that are just as capable. It's nice we're home, but it doesn't promise anything."
Those five teams — the four from Frederick County and No. 2 seed Damascus — appear to stand above the rest for a chance to reach the state semifinals.
"To me, it's a complete shame that only one of us gets to go," Linganore coach Howard Putterman said.
2A West
Before playing Middletown in September, Oakdale coach Mitch Rubin told his team, "This is the one."
Now Oakdale is hoping for a second one.
Middletown, the defending 2A state champion, beat the defending 1A state champion, 4-0, earlier in the season. Both teams are in 2A now, and though No. 1 seed Oakdale and No. 3 seed Middletown are on opposite ends of the 2A West bracket, it's easy to envision a rematch.
"Middletown and Oakdale are on a collision course, potentially," Wolcott said.
Middletown coach Heather Kline said she worries how her team would fare without the motivation of a loss to the Bears.
"I'm not sure that we saw Oakdale in their truest form," Kline said.
Despite both teams’ impressive records — Middletown is 10-3, and Oakdale is 9-2-2 — Kline said she doesn't think of either team as a defending state champion. Middletown lost key players, and Oakdale is no longer in the classification it won last year.
"It's not about what we did last year," she said. "It's about what we want to do this year."
1A West
Last year, Brunswick won a program-record six games. This year, the Railroaders, led by Dara Demich, earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the 1A West.
Private schools
St. John's beat Mercersburg, another Independent-Parochial School League contender, in the regular season, but the Vikings will face stiffer challenges in the playoffs.
dfeldman@gazette.net
Players to watch
Goalies: Natasja Hirabayashi, Urbana; Rhianna Lapen, Linganore; Rebecca Moore, Middletown; Jaclyn Pisarski, Oakdale; Kelsey Rhoderick, Gov. Thomas Johnson; Liz Ulan, Tuscarora
Defenders: Brittney George, Middletown; Destiny Ferguson, Gov. Thomas Johnson; Melanie Flatter, Oakdale; Erin Jeanneret, Gov. Thomas Johnson; Suzanne Kuhrmann, Linganore; Emily Losquadro, Middletown; Allison Shankle, Tuscarora
Midfielders: Tiffany Burba, Linganore; Jayne Cunha, Oakdale; Kerry Knauss, Gov. Thomas Johnson; Emily Marshall, Tuscarora; Jenny Marshall, Urbana; Mackenzie Noel, Middletown; Sam Small, Walkersville
Strikers: Jasmine Dao, Tuscarora; Dara Demich, Brunswick; Meghan Martin, Linganore; Aaran Parry, Tuscarora; Mary Pritts, Middletown
Favorite: Tuscarora
Contenders: Oakdale, Middletown
Dark horses: Brunswick, Gov. Thomas Johnson, Linganore, Urbana