The game plan worked perfectly yesterday for No. 4 Perry Hall in the Class 4A North regional girls soccer final - score early and defend the lead.

Lori Carpenter scored two opportunistic goals in the first 23 minutes and the defense took it from there, preserving a 2-0 victory over No. 11 Parkville for a second straight regional title.

Led by sweeper Ashley Carroll, the Gators notched their ninth shutout to advance to Monday's state semifinals.

Gators backs Katie Orlando, Sara Breidenbaugh, Allie Barreiro and Kristin Gauvin also did a great job keeping the Knights' speedy strikers Missy Rumbley and Sheree Geroux under wraps. The duo combined for 33 goals this season, but the Gators double- and triple-teamed them on every touch.

"When we get up early, we can ... keep more people back and our midfielders can stay back," said the Gators' Brittany McKew, who staged a stellar center midfield show with the Knights' Kim Vaughan.

Vaughan said the 2-0 deficit "made it tough for us because we lost our focus, so it was a lot harder for us to get back into our two-touch, our give-and-go game. We just kind of played long ball with them."

Defense has been the Gators' hallmark through an impressive two-year sweep of all Baltimore County foes, including four straight wins over Parkville (13-4) - twice in the region final.

Yesterday, the Knights, who lost to Perry Hall, 3-2, during the regular season, saw their rivals take advantage of a couple of early miscues - the first partly due to the slick field conditions.

In the seventh minute, Rachel Mulherin crossed a ball that Knights goalie Stephanie Ricketts would have nabbed had she not slipped. That allowed the Gators (13-1) to restart their attack. Ashley Pass sent a ball back to the middle where Carpenter trapped it and fired it past Ricketts.

"My foot slipped and that's how it went through the middle," said Ricketts, "but I think the defense was already a little mixed up because of that."

Ricketts challenged Carpenter on the second goal after a defensive mix-up in the 23rd minute. But the Gators striker shot as Ricketts dove and the ball went right under the keeper.

"One girl miskicked it and I ran onto it as fast as I could. I knew I needed to keep it on the ground," said Carpenter, a senior who has five goals in three postseason games.

Rumbley did her best to kick-start the Knights' offense, sending several crosses through the box in the first half. Geroux just missed one, booting it wide.