River Hill showed last night that it has learned from past mistakes. Westminster can only hope to learn from its.

The Hawks, whose lack of aggressiveness on ground balls was a contributing factor in Monday's season-opening loss to Arundel, dominated grounders for much of the way this time, building a five-goal lead before holding on to beat the host Owls, 8-6.

To River Hill All-County attackman Scott Kenworthy, who led all scorers with four goals and three assists, Monday's defeat was a lesson well learned.

"I think [ground balls] made the big difference today," said Kenworthy. "On Monday, when we played Arundel, we were taking it easy on ground balls, and it really cost us the game. I think they probably did the exact same thing."

Westminster (0-1), an young team, was beaten to loose balls time and again in the first half, something coach Jim Peters attributed partly to inexperience.

"We got outhustled early on," he said. "We're playing eight sophomores and a freshman, and I think that, along with some other adversity, is hurting us. But our younger kids rallied, and that's what we wanted them to do."

The Owls are without an All-County midfielder, an honorable mention goalie and another strong attackman until they are reinstated April 26.

Despite getting outshot 24-16, the Hawks (1-1) made the most of their chances all game long.

"We didn't score that many goals, but we weren't missing that many opportunities," said Kenworthy, who played a role in all four of River Hill's first-half goals.

He scored twice and fed teammate Justin Clark on two others to build the Hawks' 4-2 halftime lead.

Westminster closed the gap to one on Dusty Poore's unassisted, extra-man goal eight seconds into the second half, but the Hawks answered with four straight goals, two each by Kenworthy and midfielder Jonathan Clark.

Down by five at that point, the Owls made the game close with a late rally, as Kyle Koslowski scored twice and Kyle Zentz once in the final 1: 47.

"We beat them the last two years, but it was their night tonight," said Peters.

15-K, five-inning game

North County junior right-hander Justin Baker recorded a baseball oddity in Ferndale yesterday as the host Anne Arundel County team (1-1) routed Gwynn Park, 15-2, in five innings.

Baker struck out the first nine Prince George's County batters he faced and ended up recording all 15 outs via the strikeout in a pitching a four-hitter. The game was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

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Pub Date: 3/25/99