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On Friday night, Urbana High became the center of the Frederick County soccer universe, as both its boys and girls soccer teams earned berths into their respective Class 4A state championship games over Anne Arundel County foes.
The boys team upended Broadneck, 1-0 .at Montgomery-Blair High in Silver Spring on a goal by junior striker Joey Penn.
The Hawks' girls needed overtime to dispose of an extra-quick South River squad, 2-1, at Richard Montgomery High in Rockville.
Urbana's boys (12-6) will face Whitman (11-5-2) of Montgomery County in next week's state title game at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. It will be the squad's first-ever appearance in a state final game.
The Hawks' girls (16-2), will also take on a Montgomery County foe at UMBC in the form of Bethesda-Chevy Chase (17-1). The Barons knocked Urbana out of the 3A West Region final in 2008, thwarting the Hawks attempt at a state title repeat.
"This feels amazing," said Penn moments after the boys game.
"To be able to go back to school and let everyone know that we are going to the state finals feels awesome. We didn't underestimate them at all. We played good defense, and we played well."
Penn scored on a counterattack that saw senior midfielder Miguel Alvarado knock the ball to junior midfielder Jesse Rathod, who then passed the ball forward to Penn, whose quick right-footed strike sent the ball past diving sophomore goalkeeper Cody Niedermeier from just outside of the penalty box.
"I saw the ball slip by the defender and I knew I had to finish it." Penn said.
"We just have a very well-organized composed backline, with our center [full]backs and one of our midfielders helping out," said Urbana boys head coach Scott Schartner.
"Kelson Yearwood and John Mader and [midfielder] Garrett Hajjar, who works in tandem with our defenders, did a fantastic job of organizing the guys and making sure they didn't get any good opportunities to score."
Junior midfield Katie Marshall tallied the game-winner in the girls contest off of a corner kick by senior Aime Ruhe approximately four and half minutes into the first overtime.
"We practice corner kicks all of the time, and coach [Chuck Nichols] always tells me to hit it hard and hit it low, and that's what I did, and it went right to Katie Marshall's foot," said Ruhe, who will play at Division I and Big East Conference member Seton Hall next fall.
Said Marshall, "We had the will to win and continue our season. On the corner [kicks], we are told to do anything we can to get the ball in the goal.
"When we see the ball come across the goal, we're thinking that there is nothing that can stop us from putting that ball in the net."
Ruhe gave the winners their first score early in the first half on a corner kick that hooked into the goal over the head of senior standout goalie Lyndse Hokanson, thanks to a blustery wind.
The Seahawks tied the contest with nine minutes left in regulation on a left-footed shot by junior midfielder Tara Kavanaugh, who received a pass from teammate Kelly Goebel.
"That was one of the most difficult teams we've ever played against," said Nichols of South River. "They were the most athletic team we've played this year. We've played really good teams like Good Counsel, River Hill, Northern of Calvert [County], Tuscarora and TJ, and they [South River] were just flat out great athletes."