Fallston rode an early Beth Rappold goal into the state girls soccer semifinals last night, holding off visiting North Harford, 1-0, in what became an evenly matched Class 1A-2A East Regional championship game.
The victory sends No. 2-ranked Fallston (15-0) into the semifinals against Liberty on the Carroll County team's home turf Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Liberty (13-2), the area's No. 9 team, defeated Catoctin, 2-1, in over time Tuesday to win the West region and advance to the semifinals.
Fallston had won the regular-season game at home against North Harford, 4-0, although Hawks supporters say it was closer than that.
At least they were determined to make it closer against Fallston this time.
"We felt if we could mark Beth Blasi successfully, we'd have a chance," coach Tom Berg said. Blasi, a junior with a team-high 17 goals, had had two goals and two assists in the earlier game.
Valerie Bahr, a back, and one of six senior starters (two others also are backs, Wendy Dieter and Dawn Harrison) drew the assignment on Blasi and as Berg said, "Any time you limit her to five shots -- for us, that's great.
The goal came 2 minutes, 25 seconds into the game. North Harford's senior goalkeeper Erin Kroneberger just had punched out a shot when she saw the ball coming right back over her.
"I was just in the right place," Rappold said of her third goal of the year. "The ball came to me, I got a foot on it and the ball went straight up in the air. It came back down, I got a foot on it again and this time got it over the goalie. She was on the ground."
Kroneberger said: "I had just punched it out and was down -- there were three people on top of me -- when she kicked it."
Fallston coach Nancy Ferguson complimented her backs for their efforts, but said she was dissatisfied that her players got into a kicking game.
"We don't play that way," Ferguson said, "but they got us into their routine.
"Considering our first game, I was concerned in the first half. The second half, I wasn't happy with what I saw."
Credit North Harford (10-5) with some of that. There had been games when talented sophomores Danielle Konschak and Tara Schlerf had carried the load, but this time, "We worked more as a team, and they make us play harder," said Tara Kidd, another senior.
"That's the hardest we've played against Fallston," Kroneberger said. "We did a much better job of communication."