By the time Glenelg senior forward Alayna Markwordt?s shot reached the back of the net, the Gladiators knew they had wrapped up their second straight state girl?s soccer title. Markwordt?s score from 15-yards out with 38.7 seconds remaining sealed Glenelg?s 2-0 win over Sparrows Point in the 1A state final on Saturday night at Broadneck High School.
The Gladiators won the 2A state title 2-1 win over Perryville last year. Sparrows Point ? which has never won a girl?s soccer title ? made its third appearance in the state final in four years.
“We knew we could get it past the defenders and all we had to do was finish,” Markwordt, who finished the season with 16 goals, said. “It was a great team to win a championship with.”
No. 9 Glenelg (13-6-1) and Sparrows Point (14-5) played to a 0-0 tie in a first half that ended with a scare when Gladiator?s goalkeeper Kerry Krammer sustained a concussion on a goal-mouth scramble with 4:17 remaining. She was helped off the field and later taken by ambulance to Anne Arundel Medical Center for observation.
Glenelg senior forward Emily Horwath, who scored the game-winning goal with 32:55 remaining, said the team wanted to win for Krammer.
“It was strange to go through that, and we just wanted to win it for her,” Horwath said. “This was the last game for the seniors. Not many people can say they won two state titles.”
Just two hours later on thesame field, River Hill won its a second straight girl?s soccer title with a 2-1 double-overtime victory against Eastern Tech in the 2A final.
Hawk?s senior forward Erica Suter scored the game-winning goal off a corner kick from Brittany Yancey with 7: 53 left in the second extra period.
In 2006, River Hill beat Bethesda-Chevy Chase 1-0 in the 3A state title game to cap a 20-0 season.
“I just wanted to win a state title as a senior,” Suter, who?s 18th birthday is Sunday, said. “I just knew I had to aim [the ball] at the goal and that?s what I did.”
River Hill took a 1-0 lead into intermission when Yancey scored on a scramble with 21:35 left in the first half. But Eastern Tech junior forward Brittany Rhodes would tie the game when she put a loose ball in the back of the net from 10-yards away with 15:49 left in regulation.
By winning its sixth title in the last ten years, No. 1 River Hill (18-1-1) is now tied with No. 7 Severna Park for the most girl?s state soccer championships – six total. Eighth-ranked Eastern Tech (13-3-1) was denied its second title in three years. The Mavericks won the state tournament in 2005 when they beat Middletown, 1-0.
“We were nervous for a few minutes there,” Yancey said. “But we didn?t come this far just to lose.”
