The Liberty boys lacrosse and Manchester Valley girls lacrosse teams have dominated Carroll County all season.
Appropriately, they are the only two county lacrosse teams remaining in the playoffs. And again, both are looking to be Class 2A-1A West Region champions.
Following Man Valley's 14-9 victory over North Carroll on Monday in the Section 1 final, Mavericks coach Shelly Brezicki praised her team's ability to garner success by making crucial game-time adjustments when they're most essential.
The county champion Mavericks (16-1) allowed the Panthers to score the first three goals, but sparked a 9-0 run in the remainder of the first half to go ahead. The next challenge for the two-time reigning state champions is the region final game Wednesday, where they will face Walkersville for the third year in a row.
"We have to know that we have to play our game," senior defender Rosalia Cappadora said Monday. "It doesn't matter who the opponent is. We prepared for North Carroll, but there's obviously things we need to work on from our past games, and we have to play Manchester Valley lacrosse. We don't have to worry about our opponent as much as we have to focus on ourselves."
Unlike the previous two years, Man Valley didn't play Walkersville (11-5) in the regular season. The Mavs outscored the Lions 27-9 in two games in 2014 and 37-5 in two meetings in 2015.
This year, the Mavs have adopted a "One More" theme. Junior attacker Anna Geist said they've used this mindset to always push for more — a goal, a draw control, a loose ball.
"We've used that and just ran with it," Geist said. "Once you score one, you want another and another and another. We just keep that going and it really helps us."
Man Valley is 53-2 over the past three years. The Mavs had a 27-game win streak snapped in a 7-6 loss to Mount Hebron on March 26. Before that defeat, the Mavs hadn't lost since May 2014.
"We know a little bit about Walkersville," Brezicki said. "Obviously, we'll focus on our opponent and talk about their strengths and weaknesses, but if we play our game, that's our focus for that game. We don't discount any team or take any team for granted. We know they're going to come in here and give us a good fight."
The Liberty boys squad also enters its region final as a favorite. The undefeated Lions rolled to their first outright county championship since 1985, and first since 2000, unseating Westminster from the crown.
Liberty handled Manchester Valley in its first playoff game, then beat crosstown rival Century 12-7 in the section final Monday. Even though the team is in the midst of trying to orchestrate a perfect season, that's not something on the team's mind.
"The first thing that we recognize is the undefeated thing, that's not a label that's been given to us at this point in the season, we're just trying to look at getting to that next step we have," Lions coach Mike Flemming said. "Right now, we're on Step Three. We've got to take care of Wednesday. That's the only game that matters."
Boonsboro (14-1) has only one loss — a 21-14 loss to Goretti on April 8. However, the Warriors' strength of schedule was certainly not that of Liberty's.
If the Lions can beat Boonsboro, they will be region champions for the second straight season and be headed for the state tournament. Liberty has never won a state championship.
"The guys have done such a good job with everything that we've asked them to do," Flemming said. "At the end of the game, we're still going strong and firing on all cylinders, if not getting stronger. And I think that's one of those psychological advantages at times that we have, that our guys know that they can go four full quarters at full speed, need be five, six.
"We're prepared to play as much as we possibly can, and I think it shows the guys' love for the game."
