Hurricanes breeze through Oakland Mills

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

But that changed Saturday when the Hurricanes made the 1 1⁄2-hour commute to Oakland Mills to face a team in a county that has dominated the sport for years, though the Scorpions are in the midst of rebuilding the program after Coach Paul Marshall took over in 2004, according to Marshall. Wright and Thompson coalesced for 13 points as Huntingtown, which is in its second year of existence in a county that is still in its infancy in the sport, defeated Oakland Mills, 14-3.

‘‘Me and Martin have been working to connect with each other,” said Wright, who tallied his second consecutive seven-goal game and had his highest point total of the season with two assists, ‘‘and we finally did that.”

Howard County has won three of the past four Class 3A-2A state titles, the last two by Centennial. In 2002, Centennial and Mount Hebron, which has long been a boys and girls lacrosse powerhouse, each won state titles, Mount Hebron in 3A-2A and Centennial in 2A-1A. The two schools have combined for seven state championships.

Mount Hebron has won nine consecutive state titles on the girls’ side, sporting 13 in the last 14 years.

‘‘Oakland Mills is kind of having a down year,” Huntingtown coach Vic Goeller said. ‘‘Normally they’re a pretty good team. That’s what I expected when I scheduled it.”

‘‘We knew that they’re still a newer program,” Marshall said of the Hurricanes. ‘‘We’ve got some extremely, extremely tough teams [in Howard County]. So, knowing they’re a young team, we hoped it would be a closer matchup.”

It took the Hurricanes (8-3) most of the first period to begin their onslaught. The score was tied at 2 when sophomore Kelsey Baier-Anderson stole a pass from Oakland Mills sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Gezik near midfield with 1 minute 38 seconds remaining in the quarter, ran down the right side of the field and passed to Wright, who was in front of the goal. Wright put it in to give Huntingtown a lead it would build on the rest of the game.

Within the next minute, Wright assisted junior David Wiese (two goals, assist, five groundballs) and scored his second goal of the game to put the Hurricanes up 5-2.

‘‘I wouldn’t expect anything less from him,” Thompson said of Wright. ‘‘It seems like our team is starting to come together defensively and a lot more offensively.”

Thompson and Wright weren’t sure what to expect from the Scorpions (2-9). They knew their opponents weren’t getting many wins, but they heard they might have their hands full.

Then the Hurricanes got the news that junior starting goalie Matthew Deacon was playing in a soccer tournament and wouldn’t be available for the game.

‘‘But Bryant had a real big game in goal,” Wright said of sophomore Bryant Strong, who collected 10 saves and two groundballs.

By halftime, Huntingtown was up 7-3. Wright had a goal and an assist during the second quarter.

He added two more in the third, and Thompson collected his second, as the team ran up its advantage to 11-3.

Wright tallied twice in the final stanza, both on assists from Thompson.

‘‘Martin has been getting on Curtis’ case because every time he passes to him he misses,” Goeller said. ‘‘Our offense, that’s what we design it to do, draw and kick.”

Thompson finished with two goals, two assists and four groundballs. It was his highest point total this season.

‘‘I’m hoping that I can come out and make more of a difference to the scoreboard,” Thompson said. ‘‘I’m just hoping that I can put some stats in the score book and put forth on the score.”

‘‘We worked hard last week on changing his shot,” Goeller added of Thompson. ‘‘We worked with him on shooting overhand and hitting the goal. Martin is a hustler. He does a lot of the little things.”

Oakland Mills was led by senior midfielder Dan McQuay, who had all the team’s goals. He also collected two groundballs.

‘‘I actually thought they played fantastic,” Marshall said of the Hurricanes. ‘‘I was impressed with how smart they played. ... They did the things that they’re supposed to do.”