Virginia AA Dulles District Tournament Roundup

by Loudoun Extra Staff

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sixteen games. Four district tournaments. Three sports. One Saturday.

It was a busy day in Loudoun County as the Virginia AA Dulles District tournaments for baseball, softball and boys’ and girls’ soccer kicked off with quarterfinal action. The winners advanced to semifinal games on Tuesday, when some teams will be playing for berths in the Region II tournaments.

Girls’ Soccer

Broad Run 8, Park View 0

Broad Run, ranked third in The Washington Post’s top 10 area rankings, showed no loss of focus in its 8-0 victory over Park View. Eight different players scored, including Holly King, Kelly Evans, Rachel Tharp and Carina Chavez. The top-seeded Spartans led, 5-0, at halftime.

Broad Run will face fourth-seeded Potomac Falls at home in a semifinal game on Tuesday, their second meeting in less than a week. The Spartans beat the Panthers, 4-2, last Wednesday in their regular-season finale.

“We just want to maintain our focus and take it game by game,” Broad Run Coach Claire Collins said.

Potomac Falls 3, Heritage 1

Potomac Falls controlled play, but it took two goals by Amanda Rumsey late in the second half for the Panthers to pull away from the fifth-seeded Pride in a game played at Loudoun County High School.

Maddy Hartman opened the scoring for the Panthers with 12 minutes to go in the first half before Kaitlin Thomas tied the game five minutes before halftime.

Rumsey, a sophomore midfielder, picked up a loose ball with about 15 minutes left and scored to put Potomac Falls ahead. Two minutes later, she stole the ball and then chipped it in past the goalie to put the game out of reach.

Potomac Falls Coach Mitchell Schwartz cited Rumsey’s speed as a key to victory, but also credited the play of his defense, particularly Latoya Lesane.

Also playing well was freshman goalkeeper Kate Murphy, who made 11 saves. Murphy had missed the previous six games with a leg injury and had only been cleared to play on Friday.

“It says a lot about her maturity to step right into a playoff game,” Schwartz said.

As for Tuesday’s semifinal game against Broad Run, he knows it will be a tough matchup.

“Broad Run is a phenomenal team,” Schwartz said. “Even forgetting their record, they just never let up. Even though they’re already in a regional, I know they’re not going to take it easy.

“Tuesday night, we’re fighting for our life, for our season. So we have nothing to lose. The key for us is to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us and play good team defense.”

Loudoun County 6, Dominion 0

Julianne Rickers scored three times and Taylor Boucher added two goals as the second-seeded Raiders cruised into the district tournament semifinals with a home win over the Titans.

Jennifer Thomas scored the other goal for Loudoun County, which took a 3-0 halftime lead. Mary Grace Doyle and Amy Thompson each had two assists.

The Raiders will next host Briar Woods, a 2-1 winner over Freedom-South Riding on Saturday in a game played at Broad Run.

Loudoun County Coach Kirk Smith understands it could be easy for his players to look past the Falcons to a potential rematch with Broad Run inthe final. After all, the Raiders’ only two losses this season were to the Spartans.

"But I’d like to get to a regonal, and that’s by beating Briar Woods," Smith said.

Boys’ Soccer

Top-seeded Heritage picked up where it left off during the regular season, opening district tournament play with an impressive 5-0 victory over Briar Woods. Luis Brun Rodriguez had a hat trick, with two scores coming in a four-goal second half for the Pride. The Falcons, playing with the wind, were able to keep the game tied until late in the first half, when Rodriguez scored his first goal off an assist from Adrian Valencia.

Heritage got things going quickly in the second half as Rodriguez scored in the 44th minute with an assist from Payton Case. In the 66th minute, the roles were reversed as Case scored off an assist from Rodriguez.

A minute later, Rodriguez completed his scoring. Amadu Bangaru capped things off with a penalty kick in the 78th minute.

"We were able to keep the ball on the ground and that was the difference in the game," Heritage Coach Betsy Munson said.

The Pride moves on to host fifth-seeded Dominion in a district semifinal game on Tuesday. The Titans eliminated No. 4 seed Broad Run, 3-0, in a game played at Park View High School.

In other quarterfinal games, sixth-seeded Loudoun County pulled the day’s biggest upset, knocking off No. 3 seed Potomac Falls, 2-0, in Sterling and putting an abrupt end to a Panthers season that saw Uche Onyeador set the VHSL record for career goals.

Second-seeded Park View had no problem getting past Freedom-South Riding, 4-0. The Patriots will square off with the Raiders on Tuesday in Sterling.

Softball

It was business as usual for the Broad Run softball team yesterday in its Virginia AA Dulles District quarterfinal game.

The top-ranked Spartans defeated Freedom-South Riding, 8-0, in Ashburn for their 50th consecutive victory. Senior pitcher Caitlyn Delahaba gave up one hit and struck out 20.

Dating to the start of the 2006 season, Broad Run (21-0) has won 76 of its last 77 games.

"This is just a special group," Broad Run Coach Ed Steele said. "It’s been fun to watch."

Delahaba gave up 1 hit struck out 20 no walks.

The Spartans will host fourth-seeded Briar Woods, a 12-0 winner over Dominion, in a district semifinal game on Tuesday.

Second-seeded Park View also won, beating Potomac Falls, 4-0. The Patriots will host Loudoun County, a 6-4 winner over Heritage, in a district semifinal game on Tuesday.

Baseball

No. 4 Dominion 7, No. 5 Heritage 2

Dominion's bats were on from the first pitch in Saturday's Dulles District quarterfinal matchup, chasing Heritage Starter John Rogerson from the game after only 2/3 of an inning. Chris Taylor hit a 450-foot home run in the first to left center, clearing not only the 50-foot baseball fence, but the right center field softball fence as well. He followed that with another bomb in the 2nd inning before being intentionally walked in his next at-bat. He added a double in his final at plate appearance of the day. Senior Geoff McCowat got the win for the Titans who advance to play Broad Run on Tuesday.

Heritage Stats:

Rogerson 2/3 inning, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 H

Lewkovich 5 1/3 innings, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 IBB, HBP, 8 H

Peters 1-for-4

Reed 0-for-4 2K

Rogerson 2-for-3 R

Harvey 2-for-3 R, K, 3b, RBI

Clayton 0-for-2 2K, BB

Zarobila 0-for-3 K

Hoffman 0-for-1 K, BB

Klemm 0-for-1

Massey 0-for-2 2K, BB

Polkowski 0-for-2 K

Flinton 1-for-1

The Pride finish the season with a record of 8-13.

No. 3 Park View 4, No. 6 Briar Woods 1

Drew Mason and Billy Bradley went 2-for-3 with a single, a triple and one RBI. Jonathan Mason was 2-for-3 with a single and a home run and 2 RBIs. Jimmy Kerby pitched a complete game giving up 3 hits, while striking out 11 and walking none. Park View plays second-seeded Potomac Falls on Tuesday at Potomac Falls at 6 p.m.

No. 1 Broad Run 3, No. 8 Freedom 1

No. 2 Potomac Falls 9, No. 7 Loudoun County 2

The second-seeded Panthers jumped all over the visiting Raiders, scoring five runs in the 1st inning and cruising to a 9-2 victory in their quarterfinal matchup on Saturday.

The Raiders got on the board 1st on an RBI double from Spencer Johnson and an RBI single from Connor Courtney that gave County an early 2-0 lead. But that would be it for their offense on the afternoon.

Potomac Falls responded with five runs on five hits in their half of the inning. Rob Malan led off with a single and moved to third on Greg Woodlief's single. Woodlief then stole second base and Aaron Sweger knocked both runners in with a triple to right field. Sweger scored on a groundout by Mike Spring. Pat Nightingale then singled up the middle and moved to third on Chris Pelto's single to right. Chad McMichael was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Nightingale scored on a fielder's choice by Eric Dimsey. Pelto then scored on a wild pitch to give the Panthers the 5-2 lead.

The Panthers added two in the 2nd inning when Malan collected his second single to center field. Sweger then hit a drive to right field that Johnson was tracking but as he reached up to make the catch, he hit the fence and dropped the ball. Malan scored and Sweger ended up on third base. Sweger then scored on a passed ball to make the score 7-2.

Potomac Falls added insurance runs in the 4th and 6th innings on and RBI single by Pelto and a sacrifice fly by Mike Spring. Junior starter Michael Detaranto went the distance for Potomac Falls to get the win and Connor Courtney pitched six innings for Loudoun County in a losing effort.

The Panthers will host their semifinal matchup with Park View on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Tagged: 2008 Dulles Tournament

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