Hawks seniors are honored before the game.
Marriotts Ridge's Catherine Chamberline and River Hill's Anna Kim (left) go for a ball in the first half. Kim scored a goal and added an assist in River Hill's 2-0 win.
by Brandon Hopp
bhopp@digitalsports.comJuniors Anna Kim and Amy Triscoli scored first half goals to lead No. 3 River Hill over visiting No. 16 Marriotts Ridge 2-0 in the Hawks’ Senior Game.
River Hill improved to 8-0-1 overall and 7-0-1 in Howard County while the Mustangs fell to 5-5 and 5-3 in league play.
The Hawks’ five seniors are arguably the most decorated tandem in the state of Maryland.
The Class of 2009 has been apart of two consecutive Howard County, Regional and State championships under Hawks head coach Brian Song, now in his fourth season.
“This is my fourth year so these are the freshman I had coming in,” said Song. “I’ve had these seniors, well now their seniors, since they were babies. I told them if you stick together you’ll go a long way.”
Amy Song and Brittany Yancey were All-County and All-Metro selections last season, Kathryn Rodgers controls the point of attack in the midfield, Becky Perrault plays hawking defense and Semret Seyoum is tied with Anna Kim for the team’s goal scoring lead with seven.
River Hill’s underclassman helped set up the field before the match, decorating the stands with balloons and hanging signs but they also stepped on the field in the game.
The Hawks came out aggressively on offense in the first half. River Hill out-shot the Mustangs 12-1 in the first 40 minutes and the opportunities paid off as Kim found the net first.
Yancey took a shot from the right side but was denied by Marriotts Ridge goalie Sam Olson (10 saves). Kim was in the right spot as the ball bounced off of Olson’s hands and the junior kicked it into the back of the net in the 21st minute.
“Brittany [Yancey] made a really nice shot and when the goalie hit it out, I was there,” said Kim, who went down with a knee injury in the second half. “The seniors dominate the midfield and they did very well today.”
Seven minutes later, Kim made a run to the goal, stopped and made a pass to Triscoli who shot it into the net giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead that they would not lose.
“Anna was hustling towards the ball and she was able to get it back to me,” said Triscoli. I put the touch to the right, took the shot and the goalie happened to be on the other side of the net.”
The Hawks put on a dominating performance over Marriotts Ridge to take the 2-0 halftime lead.
The Mustangs, in their third year as a varsity program, came out after a passionate speech by head coach Robin Grey’s and turned up the intensity but by then it was a bit too late.
Marriotts Ridge’s best scoring opportunity came with 17 minutes to play when junior midfielder Shelby Schoen crossed a pass to sophomore Alex Price who just missed the goal wide to the right.
“River Hill came out hard and they really wanted it,” said Robyn Grey. “We have this mental block when we play them; we played scared in the first half.”
River Hill’s defense did the rest, led by stopper Alex Vega and goal keeper Carylynne Hudson (three saves), and preserved the shutout.
“We had to play our best, we knew that they would have a good match and we couldn’t have a letdown,” said Triscoli.
“It was our Senior Game and we had to win,” said Kim.
“The seniors have done so much for the team as leaders of our team and we would never let them down and not have them win their Senior Game,” Triscoli added.
No. 3 River Hill 2, No. 16 Marriotts Ridge 0
MR 0 0 -- 0
RH 2 0 -- 2
Goals: RH—Kim, Triscoli.
Assist: RH—Kim.
Saves: MR—Sam Olsen 10; RH—Hudson 3.