Stone Bridge Boys Reach District Final

By Paul Tenorio

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Through much of the season, Stone Bridge had found most of its success through set pieces – with only a limited few tallies coming through the run of play.

But Bulldogs forward Mike Herndon has found his form in recent weeks according to teammate Abdul Shaban. And on Wednesday night in a Virginia AAA Liberty District semifinal against Langley, the junior registered a hat trick, with all the scores coming through the run of play, to lift the Bulldogs to a 3-0 win.

"It gives us a lot of confidence because it definitely takes a lot of pressure off us because he works really hard up there," Shaban said. "So we know if we're in trouble and play it out he'll work hard up there so it won't come right back at us."

Herndon scored twice in the first half, finishing his own rebound 20 minutes into the half and getting on the end of a long punt with less than five to play before the break. The first-team All-District selection completed his night late in the game when he put away a long pass from the back line.

It was Herndon's second hat trick of the season and gave him 14 goals on the year – tying the school record set by All-Met forward Ronnie Shaban last season.

The Bulldogs will face upset-minded Jefferson in the final on Friday. Jefferson, a five seed, downed No. 1 seed McLean, 1-0, earlier in the night. The Colonials are the two-time defending district champions and are a scrappy team that has stayed in games all season long.

"We need to win it this year," Shaban said. "We need to take it away from [them] now. We need to get up early and bring them out of their shell they play in the back."

The Bulldogs were one of only four seeds around the Northern Region to hold their ranking.

Four higher-seeded teams were downed on Wednesday, including three No. 1s – Westfield (Concorde, lost 3-1 to Centreville), Wakefield (National, lost 2-1 to Yortown) and McLean (Liberty). Sixth-seeded Lee lost to No. 7 seed Hayfield, 5-3, in the Patriot District.

Other teams to hold their seeds were top-seeded Robinson (Concorde, defeated Oakton 1-0), No. 2 seed Edison (National, defeated Stuart 3-0) and top-seeded South County (Patriot), which survived seven rounds of penalty kicks to defeat Annandale.

Extra Points

By Paul Tenorio and Matt Brooks