The Hereford girls lacrosse team won 17 straight games and county and regional titles last season. The Bulls won everything except a state championship, falling to Marriotts Ridge of Howard County in the title game.
"We graduated some stellar talent but have a young and eager group this year," Hereford coach Anne Ensor said.
Four seniors return from the 17-1 team that finished with 282 goals and 152 assists last season.
The top retuning scorer is senior midfielder Caroline May, who led the Bulls with 51 goals and 29 assists.
May, who will play at the University of Florida next year, will be joined in the midfield by classmate Caitlin Katchmar (St. Mary's), junior Rachel Karwacki (Boston College), sophomores Carolin Peterson and Gracie Saunders and freshman Kylie Nause.
Karwacki led in draw controls with 94.
Defense was also key to last year's success, with the Bulls forcing 267 turnovers.
The defense is young with Lucy Reider (Dickinson) being the only senior. Juniors Alyx Oakley, Christy Ivey and Meredith Joyce, sophomores Ella Tankersley, Dana Meehling and Emma Reider comprise the defense in front of junior goalie Cassidy Nozemack.
Senior Maria Collacchi (Cincinnati) is the veteran on an attack that includes juniors Kaely Howard and Grace Pfarr, sophomore Graeme Eber and freshman Lily Cavallaro.
Dulaney
Dulaney girls lacrosse coach Kristi Korrow is counting on a core of outstanding midfielders to lead the Lions.
Junior Robert Morris University recruits Mackenzie Gandy and Annie Sachs and sophomore Kaitlyn Dabkowski (University of Florida) spearhead the unit.
"Their speed is definitely an advantage," said Korrow, who is in her 10th season and returns eight starters. "But they are also pretty good at finding one another and working the ball down field seamlessly. They are a little more in tune with one another than some of my other midfielders have been."
Two other standout midfielders, sophomore Emma Klein and Mackenzie sister, Emma (Robert Morris) will be moving back to defense.
They'll be joined by seniors Sarah Hampton (Mary Washington) and PD Stein on the backline.
Hampton leads the defense.
"She is extremely vocal," Korrow said. "She has really grown back there. She has become a better and more accurate takeaway player. Her checks have been quicker and smarter."
The attack features seniors Allie Collie (St. Mary's College), Lucia Tarantino and Audrey Stenerson.
Tarantino should give the attack a boost after missing all of last year with a knee injury.
There's a heated battle between sophomores Hannah Slomkowski (West Point), a transfer from Notre Dame Prep, and Madison Hine.
Hine earned the Lions' starting job late last season.
Korrow said that having two standout goalies is a blessing.
"They are both similar type of goalies," the coach said. "They are both really composed and not afraid to be vocal as sophomores. Madison has very quick hands and her fundamentals are really solid. Hannah is a little more of emotional type of players and really feeds off the team doing well."
This is one of Korrow's youngest teams, boasting a freshman, four sophomores and six juniors on the 18-player roster.
Don't be mislead by the team's youth movement because Korrow likes the idea.
"I think it's huge at the high school level to have a team that's mostly intact coming back," Korrow said. "Last year, we had 11 new varsity players. That was over half the team. This year, we only have four new players to acclimate to the team."