By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
It seems that Bethesda-Chevy Chase Coach Rob Kurtz may have been more nervous than his players Thursday night before they won the 3A girls soccer state championship, 2-0, over Fallston.
Kurtz kept busy during the day, but once he went through his pregame ritual of buying a diet Coke and PowerBar the nerves hit him. They hit him again when he saw the UMBC stadium lights.
His players, meanwhile, sat in the locker room throwing things at each other before the game and struck individual poses during the player introductions.
“We’re a goofy group,” senior Bethesda-Chevy Chase midfielder Hillary Goldman said.
“I never had any doubts during the game; we just came out and just did what needed to be done,” senior midfielder Zita DePetris added. “We really achieved every goal we had for the season.”
That ability to be loose and confident may have been the difference in Thursday night’s game. The Barons jumped on a seemingly-tense Fallston team early, creating a pair of golden scoring chances before putting in two goals in a matter of one minute, 57 seconds.
They were the only goals Bethesda-Chevy Chase would need to cap the Barons’ first-ever undefeated season. It is the program’s third state championship and first since 2004.
“We’re seniors, we’ve experienced almost everything,” defender Charlotte Detchon said, her arms draped over two fellow seniors. “We knew what to do and we just did it.”
Bethesda-Chevy Chase (17-0) entered the season with high expectations after a devastating loss in the 3A West region finals last season. Despite graduating 11 seniors, seven of which who went on to play college soccer, the Barons knew they had the talent to match or surpass last year’s team. Consequently, the Barons had only played three close games all season before Thursday night.
Fallston has been just as dominant the past couple of seasons. Fallston (17-1) had only lost once during the past two years and had outscored its opponents this season a combined 73-12.
But when it came time to crown a champion, B-CC clearly was the better team and certainly seemed more relaxed, yet focused.
“I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves before this game even started,” Fallston Coach Alyson Cammann said. “They played a smart game. They played how we normally play.”
B-CC didn’t waste any time taking control of the game. Barons sophomore Alex Doll put a header off the crossbar just more than 10 minutes into the game and B-CC kept applying the pressure.
Then, with 13:58 remaining in the first half, senior Hannah Richardson tore down the right sideline and hit a tough-angled shot inside the right near post for the Barons’ first goal. Richardson entered the game with five goals and five assists for 15 points, ranking her 6th on the team in scoring.
“All of a sudden we had this great breakthrough and I felt the speed,” Richardson said. “It’s one of those things where you see an opening and you just go for it.”
Only one minute, 57 seconds later, freshman Hannah Levin won a ball in the midfield and played through to freshman Kara Klontz, who poked the ball just inside the right far post to give the Barons a two-goal lead. Klontz entered the game with three goals and two assists, ranking her ninth on the team in points.
“We were able to score so many goals from different positions,” said senior forward Hannah Cooper, who led the Barons in scoring this season with 26 goals and 11 assists. “So many different players stepped up.”
The Barons still had several more quality scoring chances before the end of the half, including one as the horn signaling the end of the first half sounded. B-CC brought more defenders back during the second half and snuffed out any real threat.
“When you train for these events you hope everything comes together at one time and it came together for us tonight,” Kurtz said. “I think we actually played an A-game tonight.”
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