It was a rainy opening weekend, but that didn't stop several county squads from beginning their seasons on the right foot.
River Hill won twice to capture the title at the Franklin Invitational, while Reservoir, Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills and Centennial each won a game at their respective tournaments. Glenelg, playing in the Liberty Tournament, started a game but didn't get to finish because of thunderstorms in the area.
For River Hill, the first weekend was one to remember thanks to 2-0 victories over Catonsville and host Franklin. The Hawks had four different players score on offense and the defense was led by a pair of shutouts by goalie Nick Voyton, who finished with seven saves in each contest.
Coach Matt Shagogue said he was pleased with a lot of things over the course of the two games, but was particularly happy to see the team score twice on long throws by senior Tomi Williams.
"It's exciting to see us taking advantage of that weapon, because that's something we haven't always done in the past," Shagogue said.
Reservoir, the defending 3A State champions, participated in the Spalding Tournament and went 1-0-1. The Gators started things off with a 1-1 tie against the host Cavaliers, then followed it up with a 3-1 victory over Old Mill.
Against Spalding, Reservoir found itself down by a goal with time winding down in the second half. However, with just less than 10 minutes left, Paul Park won the ball in the midfield and played it to Colin Bonner, who flicked it to Gibrill Sheriff for the tying score.
The next day, the offense again struggled in the first half. But once Jimmy Rager got the Gators on the board early in the second everything started to click.
"We kind of started the same way we did against Spalding … generating opportunities, but not getting on the end of anything," coach Paul Linkins said. "We had a nice conversation at halftime and the guys stepped up."
The brother combination of Peter and Paul Park provided the final two scores for Reservoir. Sean Dooley finished with four saves in goal.
Marriotts Ridge had its first game of the Sherwood Tournament postponed at halftime because of the weather. The Mustangs were trailing host Sherwood 1-0 at the break when the game was called.
The good news was that Marriotts Ridge was able to get back on the field later in the day for a full game and it took advantage with a 3-0 win over Bowie.
"We were disappointed we didn't get to finish the first game off, especially since I felt like we were doing the things we wanted to do, but hadn't gotten the results," Marriotts Ridge coach Kevin Flynn said. "We broke down that half and made our adjustments before playing again."
Nick Appelgate gave Marriotts Ridge a 1-0 lead at the half against Bowie. Then after intermission Sean Harrison and Amir Najib each added insurance goals. Pat Moore finished with three saves in net for the Mustangs to secure the shutout.
"We're still growing and there are still a lot of question marks, but Saturday was definitely a step in the right direction," Flynn said.
Oakland Mills started its own tournament off with a 0-0 tie with Westminster that ended up as a 4-2 loss in penalty kicks. Hassan Mustafa finished with three saves in that contest and coach Don Shea said he got his hands on three of the balls during PKs.
The Scorpions bounced back in game two to defeat Loch Raven 3-1, getting goals from Shackeem Black, Henry Ruiz and Tim Haines. Mustafa again made three stops, including one save on a penalty kick.
"I was truly pleased we came out and played as well as we did," Shea said. "We played two games back-to-back with only about a 20-minute break and our fitness level was excellent. Our defense also played very well both games."
Centennial kicked off its season on Friday with a 1-0 win over Chesapeake. The Eagles got a first-half goal from Max Yarosh off a throw-in by Bradley Benson and made that hold up the rest of the way. Jackson Bicknell had four saves in net.
The next day, Centennial was on the other end of a 1-0 decision against Northpoint. Bicknell finished with three saves in the loss.
Glenelg was up 1-0 at the half of its game against Patterson when it was called because of rain. Tae Lim proved the score off an assist from Christian Von Rautenkranz.
Box scores:
River Hill 2, Catonsville 0
Goals: RH - Riso, Turney.
Assists: RH - Kaiser, Williams.
Saves: RH - Voyton 7.
River Hill 2, Franklin 0
Goals: RH - Huber, Levy.
Assists: RH - Noonan, Williams.
Saves: RH - Voyton 7.
Reservoir 1, Spalding 1
Goals: Re - Sheriff; S - Sturgis.
Assists: Re - Bonner; S - Vandenberg.
Saves: Re - Dooley 3; S - Beyers 10.
Half: 0-0.
Reservoir 3, Old Mill 1
Goals: Re - Pe. Park, Pa. Park, Rager; OM - Kozlowski.
Assists: Re - Bonner, Pe. Park.
Saves: Re - Dooley 4; OM - Kiser 3.
Half: 0-0.
Marriotts Ridge 3, Bowie 0
Goals: MR - Applegate, Harrison, Najib.
Assists: MR - Martinelli, Appelgate, Caples.
Saves: MR - Moore; B - N/A 7.
Half: 1-0 MR.
Oakland Mills 3, Loch Raven 1
Goals: OM - Black, Ruiz, Haines.
Assists: OM - Joseph.
Saves: OM - Mustafa 3.
Half: 2-1 OM.
Centennial 1, Chesapeake (AA) 0
Goals: C - Yarosh.
Assists: C - Benson.
Saves: C - Bicknell 4.
Half: 1-0 C.