FREDERICK — Mountain Ridge girls soccer’s road to history continues today, as the Miners play for a spot in the state championship game.
The Miners travel to Tuscarora High School for a 2:30 meeting with Perryville.
“The girls are excited,” said Mountain Ridge head coach Todd Snyder. “If we can come through with a win, it would only be the second time in school history we’ve played in the state title game. The girls are excited. They know they’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point and they’re really looking forward to the challenge.”
The Miners had two emotional wins in a span of three days last week to advance in the playoffs.
The first came in the West Region I title game, which was postponed a day after an Allegany cheerleader was injured during a stunt about 40 minutes prior to the game and had to be flown to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia, after she was initially unresponsive.
Mountain Ridge, the top overall seed in West Region I, won the region crown over the Campers on penalty kicks.
Two nights later, the Miners again went to overtime, but came out with a 3-2 win over Brunswick in the state quarterfinals thanks to Fiona Ruddell’s game-winner with just under two minutes to play in the first overtime.
“Practice this week has gone pretty well for the most part,” Snyder said. “We’ve had some ups and downs with the long layoff, but we got ourselves back on track and have had better practices every night this week.”
One big revelation for the Miners heading into the Brunswick game was the return of Reese Rizzo, who hadn’t played since Sept. 28 due to a leg injury. Rizzo was able to provide the Miners with a spark off the bench, and Snyder hopes she can play a bigger role this afternoon.
“She keeps improving,” Snyder said. “Having her back and the opportunity to have her play with us gives us more of a spark and a boost off the bench, and gives us some more strength up top. We hope to extend her minutes from what she played last week. She’s not quite back to 100% yet, but she continues to make improvements.”
The Miners, the No. 2 team in Class 1A, take on a No. 3 Perryville squad that trounced No. 6 Surrattsville, 7-0, in the state quarterfinals after topping Kent County, 9-0, and Bohemia Manor, 3-2, in East Region I play.
“I’ve watched a few of their game films,” Snyder said of Perryville. “They play a flat back four, so there’s lots of space. I think we can expose some opportunities in the midfield. They’re pretty skilled though. They’re a mix of a few teams we’ve played this year.”
Today marks the fifth time the Miners have played in the state semifinals since the school opened in 2007. The only time they have played in the state title game was in 2010, when they fell in penalty kicks to Oakdale.
“The girls have had a good week. It was pretty emotional last week, but being able to take Saturday and Sunday off to let it sink in, then come back Monday ready to work, I think that helped. We want to play with emotion and play fast, and hopefully we’ll come out with a victory.”
The winner moves on to the state title game at Loyola next week and will face the winner of No. 1 Mardela and No. 5 Havre de Grace. The other state semifinal also kicks off at 2:30 p.m. at Glen Burnie High School.
“We keep stressing to just take it one game at a time,” Snyder said. “This is just another step to be where we want to be. We told the girls at the beginning of the year that the ultimate goal is to place a banner on the side of the fieldhouse. With a win, we have a chance to put one there — but we want it to say ‘champions,’ not ‘finalists.’”