Opportunistic offense and lock-down defense carried River Hill in its 3A East region sectional semifinal against Atholton on Tuesday.
The Hawks got a goal in each half — one apiece from Robert Dass and Chris Lee — and the defense locked up its tenth shutout of the season on the way to a 2-0 victory over the visiting Raiders.
“I thought we played pretty well … overall I’m definitely pleased, especially with how we defended,” River Hill coach Matt Shagogue said. “The big thing was that we came out sharp, really pressed the ball and created chances early.”
The victory advances River Hill into a match-up against Reservoir on Thursday at 5 p.m.
When Atholton and River Hill met earlier this season on the turf at Atholton, it was a much different game. The Raiders were the ones to score first and it took River Hill until the final minutes of regulation to finally find the back of the net and eventually pull out a win in overtime.
This time on grass, River Hill was the one controlling tempo and grabbing the upper hand. In the 23rd minute, Dass fired home a pretty shot into the upper portion of the net for a 1-0 Hawks’ lead.
Atholton never fully recovered after that.
“We are so spoiled now on the turf, that we get on grass and our first touches just aren’t the same. This is a nice field, it’s just different than what we’re used to,” DeFrances said. “We played two games on grass and we lost them both. It is what is though and River Hill is a good team.”
Late in the game, with just under 14 minutes left in regulation, River Hill got an insurance goal when Chris Lee swooped in and finished a ball on the end line.
Hawks’ goalie Tomas Potts had to make just two saves to secure the shutout.
River Hill now turns its attention to Reservoir, a 3-1 winner over Wilde Lake on Tuesday in its sectional semifinal. Earlier this season, the Hawks defeated the Gators, 2-1, in the county opener for both squads.
While both teams have improved, Shagogue says everyone knows what’s coming.
“I don’t think there are going to be any surprises for either of us,” he said. “I tell you what, though, David Harris is a machine right now … scoring a lot of goals and he is very difficult to stop. So there’s definitely going to be a focus on him and, for us, making sure we come out and dictate the pace of the game.
“They’ve probably marked this on their calendar since the day we beat them the first time and we know that and we have to be ready for their energy.”