The Fallston Cougars came one step closer to earning a berth in their 21st MPSSAA state field hockey tournament Monday, beating the visiting North East Indians, 4-1, in a Class 1A North regional semifinal game.
The top-seeded Cougars, who have advanced to the state semifinals 20 times in the last 36 years and have brought home Maryland crowns during 12 of those trips, must next get past their Harford County rivals the Patterson Mill Huskies in the 1A North title game, which will be played Wednesday at Fallston.
Patterson Mill, which made it to last year's 1A state final, where the Huskies were beaten 1-0 by 24-time champion Pocomoke, earned a spot in Wednesday's regional championship with a 3-1 victory over Perryville, also on Monday.
In the regional final at Fallston today (Wednesday), it will the third-seeded Huskies, who earned 1A North titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010, against the top-seeded Cougars.
High intensity Cougars
Fallston head coach Megan Grant, who won the Class 2A final in 2009, her first year at the helm after taking over for the legendary Alice Puckett, an 11-time state champ, said the Cougars handled fifth-seeded North East well in Monday's victory and will need to maintain a high level of intensity if they hope to keep advancing into the post-season.
"We have had a problem finishing sometimes this season," Grant said. "Today, we were able to keep the ball inside their 25 yard line, keep pressure on the defense, and score more than a couple of goals. North East is a good team, and they made some good stops tonight. I told the girls before the game that they are really feisty, and that we would need to play hard the entire time. We need to keep doing that, looking ahead. We need to stay focused, play smart, and play the whole 60 minutes without letting up."
Leading the way for Fallston was Danielle McDiarmid, who scored twice and dished out one assist. Jenna Mosketti had one goal, while Marisa Perfetti was responsible for Fallston's fourth tally.
Jordan Wagner and Giselle Leoni both posted assists in the victory.
The last time Fallston and Patterson Mill met, on Oct. 13, the Cougars escaped with a 3-2 victory after Mosketti scored a game-winning goal in the final minute of the second sudden-death overtime period.
Grant says she expects another epic battle between the two Chesapeake (upper) Division squads.
"Patterson Mill has a really, really strong team," Grant said. "They took us to double overtime during the season, and it will probably be another great game in the [regional] final. Again, we're just going to have to play hard the entire 60 minutes, and limit our mistakes, if we want to move on."
In their quarterfinal match up on Thursday afternoon, the Cougars dropped visiting eighth-seed Bo Manor, 4-0
At half-time, the Cougars led 3-0.
Nicole MacDiarmid, Danielle MacDiarmid, Leoni and Dana Katzenberger all had one goal for the Cougars, while Mosketti, Jordan Wagner, and Brooke Cannon each notched one assist in the win.
Huskies head to regional final
The Patterson Mill girls earned a spot in their fourth straight 1A North regional championship game by defeating second-seeded host Perryville, 3-1.
Linnea Gonzalez scored twice and handed out one assist to pace the Husky offense.
Mariel Castronova scored once, and teammate Katie Meek had one assist.
Patterson Mill goalie Maddie Hedrick posted four saves.
Playing at home on Friday in the regional quarterfinal round, the Huskies dispatched the sixth-seeded Joppatowne Mariners 5-0.
Gonzalez netted a pair of goals in the victory, while Alyssa Jordan, Kelly Manning and Christina Claypool each contributed one goal. Emily Keesling led the Huskies in assists with two, while Castronova put up one assist.
Hawks top Franklin
The North Harford Hawks, defending Class 3A North champs and 2010 state finalists, earned a shot at their second straight trip to the state tournament with an 8-2 victory over Franklin in the regional semifinals Monday.
North Harford, the 3A North's seventh seed, will travel to play top-seeded Hereford Wednesday at 6 p.m. in a rematch of last year's regional title game, which North Harford won 2-0. After defeating Hereford in the 2010 tournament, the Hawks topped Northern-Calvert in the state semifinals before losing to River Hill 1-0 in the 3A championship game.
Monday's semifinal victory saw the Hawks offense led by Rebecca Rinaca, who scored a hat trick and dished out one assist. Kara Parks scored twice in the victory, while Maddy Dolinar had one goal and a team-best two assists. Emily Eline scored once and had one assist in the win, while teammate Katie Owens found the Franklin net once. North Harford's Sarah Rinaca and Juliet Dolinar both picked up one assist.
Hawks goalkeeper Abby Phillips had two saves.
Bobcats knocked out in semifinals
Class 3A North fourth seed Bel Air was eliminated from the postseason Monday with a 3-0 road loss to the top-seeded Hereford Bulls.
Bel Air was behind 1-0 at the half-time break.