By: Danny Tow, Sports Editor
Over the years, River Hill Soccer has gained a reputation for having a strong soccer program, with a combined twenty-two state championships in forty-six seasons between the Boys and Girls teams and a success rate of 48% that most high schools can only dream of. That ferocity has not subsided this season. In fact, the Hawks are doing better than ever.
The Boys team reached the state final, though they lost 4-3 on penalties to Oakdale, and finished 3rd in the Washington Post rankings and 4th in the Baltimore Sun area poll with a record of 16-1-1. The Girls team, meanwhile, won their 3rd state championship in a row, beating Walkersville 1-0 at Loyola University on November 16th. They finished 2nd in the Baltimore Sun area poll and 3rd in the Washington Post rankings with a record of 17-1.
Junior Jeff Fuentes attributed the Boys’ success this season to team cohesiveness, as well as a desire for revenge. “Losing the [state] final last year motivated the team to get back,” he said. “Also, we’re more connected as a team, and have more team chemistry.”
Junior Austin Weltz agreed. “We wanted to avenge our loss from last year,” Weltz says. “That was the entire motive this season. Unfortunately, we came up just short.”
Conversely, the Girls team had no loss from last year to avenge, coming off a 3-0 championship game win over Hereford last November. However, they wanted to win another title no less than their male counterparts, junior Caitlin Duffy said.
“To win another state championship was our goal going into the playoffs, and we accomplished that goal,” Duffy said.
The fact that both teams were extremely successful this season is undeniable. However, the reasons for that success differ for both. Duffy says that the Girls owe their success to a strong work ethic, because they, “consistently work[ed] hard to improve,” while Weltz credited the Boys’ superstition and rituals, such as their “good luck beverage.”
Something both teams can agree on is that they can credit much of their success this season to their defense. The Boys team gave up just three goals during the regular season thanks to a solid backline featuring senior GK Patrick Sherlock, last year’s Howard County first-team GK, while the Girls allowed just two due in part to the team returning all four starters from the back line that helped them win the state championship in 2017. Much of the credit for their stout defense went to freshman GK Caroline Duffy, who coach Brian Song said is the best goalkeeper in Howard County.
Clearly, both teams had incredibly successful seasons, and all players and coaches in the program should be proud of everything they achieved this past season. Go Hawks!