Whitman used to be 1. Quince Orchard was 1A. In the last few seasons, Damascus has crashed the exclusive party.
But that’s been it in Montgomery County girls lacrosse, where a clearly-defined pecking order always existed. This season, not so.
While Quince Orchard (8-1) and Damascus (7-2) remain formative, Whitman (2-6) has taken a precipitous fall. Rushing to assume the Vikings’ place have been several eager contenders including Sherwood (8-1), Churchill (8-1), Blake (7-2), Poolesville (8-1) and Rockville (8-1).
“A lot more girls are starting to play,” said Churchill senior Jamie Grossman. “Each year, we’ve gotten better players who come in with more experience. It’s probably the case at a lot of other schools.”
An example off the power shift was Friday at Churchill where the Bulldogs trounced defending 4A/3A West Region champion Walter Johnson, 14-4. It was their first win over the Wildcats since 2000.
Churchill’s improvement, from 5-8 last season, comes under its fourth head coach in four years, Kevin Brown, who is assisted by the husband-wife team of Bryan and Kathleen Langan.
“Our coaches are really into it and they’re pushing us harder,” said Churchill junior Lea Biciocchi. “We’ve got good players all over the field. We’ve never had that.”
It’s a far cry from 1997-2004, when Whitman had a string of 96 consecutive victories over Montgomery County public school competition. This year Churchill scored the first 13 goals of the game en route to their first ever victory over Whitman, 15-4.
“We knew they lost a lot of players,” said Grossman. “But it was still a big deal. It was Whitman.”
