Girls Soccer Season Preview: B-CC reloaded after heartbreak

By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

Following last year’s loss to Urbana in the 3A regional finals, the entire Bethesda-Chevy Chase girls soccer team took the next day off school and met for breakfast.

“Everyone was so depressed, just because we didn’t want it to end,” senior Hillary Goldman said.

The Barons’ loss was about as abrupt an ending as could have been expected. After giving up just three goals the entire season and entering the game with a perfect 14-0 record, Bethesda-Chevy Chase fell behind 2-0 in the first half. The Barons rallied to tie the game in the second half and dominated overtime but came out losers in penalty kicks, falling when a star senior missed the final shot.

As Goldman said, the entire team felt last year was their year to get over Urbana and the rest of the Frederick County teams that plague the Barons. With 11 seniors, seven of which went on to play college soccer, It was supposed to be Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s year to bring home the 3A state championship.

“It was really, really a hard loss, the worst way to lose,” Goldman said. “It was kind of a few weeks of getting back into normal students again.”

But with the help of pancakes, time and another crop of seemingly endless talent entering and rising through the Barons program, the girls and Coach Rob Kurtz have moved on from last year and enter this season hungry for redemption.

“I think that definitely gave everyone a lot of motivation to come out strong this year,” sophomore Alex Doll said.

Bethesda-Chevy Chase returns eight seniors and an incredible amount of depth on this year’s squad. Since the Barons don’t face much of  a challenge during the regular season many of the bench players see 35 minutes per game or more, meaning many of the players return with a load of experience even if they weren’t starters.

However, the flip side of that is that the team’s starters aren’t tested until they reach the playoffs, which Coach Rob Kurtz attributed to last year’s 2-0 first-half deficit. Kurtz said the team often faces its toughest challenge of the season in practice during an intra-squad scrimmage.

“You’re preparing basically for one game against usually one of the Frederick County teams to get to your ultimate goal of getting to the state tournament,” Kurtz said. “It’s interesting to think how much time we put in starting in August, through the summer all the way until November basically to prep for a really tough game no matter who you’re playing.”

To combat losing that competitive edge, the team tries to simulate different scenarios during blowout games. But even that is hard. So this year the Barons are focusing more on strength and mental conditioning that will hopefully keep the team in prime shape for the playoffs. Kurtz also focuses on simply getting better every practice.

The Barons certainly have the pieces to make another run this season. Senior Hannah Cooper should lock down the front line after scoring 16 goals last season. She is approaching 50 goals for her career.

“She’s got probably five or six goals that should be on YouTube,” Kurtz said. “She’s just really creative in the box.”

Fellow senior and four-year starter Charlotte Detchon will be a steady force in the back yet again and the team also returns sophomore Alex Doll, a U-15 national pool player, at forward. Kurtz said Doll would be “the next great one from the state of Maryland.”

Bethesda-Chevy Chase also returns two center midfielders who were sidelined with ankle injuries most of last season. Zita DePetris returned just in time to face Urbana last year while Goldman was forced to sit out the entire season after injuring her right ankle in the fourth game of the season.

“It’s kind of sad that it’s our last year,” Goldman said. “It’s kind of surreal as well. We’ve been waiting for this year. There’s high expectations but there always are. We don’t want to make any mistakes. We want to have a flawless season.”

QO SHOULD CONTEND AGAIN: Coming off its first 4A state championship since 2002 with a win over C. Milton Wright in penalty kicks, Quince Orchard looks set to make another run at the title this season.

The Cougars lost their top two scorers, Ariel Nehemiah and Christie Shell, and the 26 goals they scored last year, but return seven starters. They will be replaced by junior Ele Margelos and junior Emily D’Italia, who has made the move from midfield to forward.

The team’s midfield, anchored by Kayla Clarke, and goalkeeping, manned by Amanda Whitney, should be the team’s strengths.

MILLER IS EVEN BETTER: She’s already Walter Johnson’s leading career goal scorer with 62 career goals, but Walter Johnson’s Caroline Miller has even further improved her game this year, adding better passing and defense to her repertoire.

Miller, who scored 25 goals and notched 13 assists last year, is a U-17 national pool player who has already committed to Virginia. She leads a Wildcats team that has eight returning starters and is coming off a 13-3 season that ended with a 3-2 loss to Quince Orchard in the regional semifinals.

Coach Thomas Wheeler feels the team will be strong on offense but must rebuild its defense.