Did you ever take into consideration that although Glenelg only beat Severna Park by 1 goal, they are a 2A school who beat 2 teams ranked #1 (Bryn Mawr & Severna Park), beat Severna Park who is a 4A school and took South River to overtime (another 4A school) in the beginning of the season.

Regardless of the comparison between Glenelg's and Westminster's Severna Park outcome, isn't it pretty remarkable that a team from one of the smallest 2A schools in the state was able to accomplish what it had this season against teams from schools twice their size?

Why take that away from the girls from Glenelg just because of 1 game? I'm not trying to dispute the accomplishments of Westminster, but why penalize Glenelg because of the score of 1 game?

What about sharing the #1 spot?? Both teams did different things along the way in order to earn that spot, so who is to really say that one team is better than the other?

Things to take into consideration to support Westminster earning the # 1 spot by more then a pinch.... For starters, Westminster beat Glenelg in a preseason scrimmage this year, yeah I know those games don't count.... Westminster has not lost a regular season game in the past three seasons. Three seasons ago, they lost in the State Semi-Finals (1-0 in OT with 3 goals waived off by Anne Arundel county officials). Last year they lost in the State Finals (2-1 to SP). This year they won the State Finals. Let's just say this group of ladies have improved each year and produced a solid team in 2010. IT's a shame that it sounds like it pains "The Sun" to give this group the title they deserve. I'm sure the Owls would happily suit up to play Glenelg or any other team for that matter. It would be nice to have a national championship format, but they don't.

Maybe Westminster should have blown teams up by not pulling their starters? 70 goals "For" reflects a great coach who sees value in not destroying the competition as well as encourages player development.. In the 2010 WHS Winston Churchill playoff game, the coach put the JV girls in that were called up thus a 6-3 outcome. That's the way it's suppose to be done.

The BCS style point system serves no purpose in high school sports.

Maybe Westminster should have blown teams up by not pulling their starters? 70 goals "For" reflects a great coach who sees value in not destroying the competition as well as encourages player development.. In the 2010 WHS Winston Churchill playoff game, the coach put the JV girls in that were called up thus a 6-3 outcome. That's the way it's suppose to be done.

The BCS style point system serves no purpose in high school sports.

Should there have really been an argument as to who was Number 1, when Westminster was the only undefeated team in the region and won the State Title.

The rationale for vaulting Westminster over Glenelg is silly. Glenelg beat Severna Park without their second leading scorer even playing. Maybe losing to Glenelg affected Severna Park's psyche such that it made Westminster's job easier. I'm not advocating for Glenelg, just pointing out you can play "what if" all day. Fact of the matter is, Glenelg held the #1 ranking, held up their end of the bargain by winning their classification, and are equally deserving of a share of the #1 ranking.

And for what it's worth, L, Westminster only had 1 goal disallowed in the 2008 State semifinal (not 3), and were awarded 6-7 consecutive penalty corners after the end of regulation by the same referees you're accusing of conspiracy that they couldn't convert before giving up a goal in overtime without ever even possessing the ball. Get your facts straight.

In all due respect to Glenelg, they had a great season. Westminster just had a better season 19-0. Westminster did have a bad game or two, but they still won and did not record a loss. Out of curiosity, who can justify an 18 - 0 score that Glenelg posted against McDonough? I mean really, who sees value in running up the score to 18 - 0 in field hockey? What’s the thought process after the team hits 10 – 0? Is a comeback possible? I guess if rankings are done in BCS fashion and stats matter, I stand to be corrected, but like many people, BCS style rankings have no place in High School sports.

@S - 19-0 - respect the 0! Your facts on the 2008 are not straight either. OT lasted less than a minute so 6 to 7 corners after regulation was not possible. The film says it all and will post to youtube if you want. The facts remain the same, goals were waived off by Anne Arundel officials, nothing more said, nothing less said - no accusations were made – I can’t help your interpretation of that comment, is just that - your interpretation. My comment was to suggest they put the ball in the goal, they just didn't count. It happens it's part of the game. I suppose you were one of the officials? :) LOL

For the record and to set things straight, Glenelg DOES NOT run up the score. Their coach typically pulls the starters once the score differential becomes 5 or so. This includes playing the subs during the season along with the jv players called up to varsity at the end of the season. It was all Glenelg could do in the 18 - 0 regional playoff game not to score 50 goals, really. In that game, no starting player scored more than 2 goals and rarely during the season did a player have more than 3 goals in a game. (Gotta love the online stats, makes this research so easy!). Anyhow, enough said. Hats off to Westminster and the AA County powerhouses for a great season. It's about time Howard County is on the map.

Westminster struggled against a 12-6 team to win the championship. That should have moved them up to #2 at best. Glenelg played a much stronger schedule than Westminster.. The good news is nobody takes the Sun seriously and most that know anything about Field Hockey know that Glenelg is the #1 team in the state.

I'm not sure how anyone who can count can say that an 18-0 score is NOT running up the score. What else would you call that? Your use of the word "typically" in saying that the coach pulls her starters after a 5 goal differential is grossly overestimated. If sportsmanship is worth anything anymore these days, congratulations to Westminster.

@ dewwey - You're still wrong about 2008. A single Westminster goal was disallowed, and b/c Westminster was in the process of taking a penalty corner when the second half clock hit 0:00, regulation time could not end until either Westminster scored or their opponent successfully cleared the ball. That didn't occur until some 5 or 6 more penalty corners that Westminster was awarded after time expired, setting up the OT that lasted a matter of seconds. Perhaps you should rewatch the video before you post it.

More to the point, it's totally disingenuous to keep referring to the referees as "AA Cty. referees" and at the same time innocently claim you're not suggesting anything by doing so. If not, it doesn't matter where they were from. And in any event it's totally bizarre - Westminster wasn't even playing an AA Cty. team that night.

Let's not get into an argument on who is #1 and Who is #2. it's clearly obvious that both programs are very strong and had tremendous seasons, so let the girl's enjoy there moment in the sun.The fact that these two schools are ranked this high is a credit to the female athletes not the parents bickering who is better than who.Let's not ruin a moment these girl's will remember the rest of there lives.

@S - considering I'm wrong all the time and I'm alright with that and as I'm presuming you are AA official, you might be able to answer this question for me; in the WHS/Severna Park game last Wednesday night, the one goal SP made was from a shot outside the circle in which nobody touched it and was obviously counted as a goal. If the reverse of that situation were to occur and the proper call is made where the goal is waived off, does it count as a waived off goal or a no shot? I'm a football guy, I don't know all these little details of Field Hockey, so educate me.
Regardless of your answer, it was a pretty dominating victory for the Owls in their undefeated year.

Glenelg had a great year as well which is what this story line is about. Two teams with great years, both beating the perennial AA Powerhouse SP, one team was undefeated and one team with one loss, but both earning State Championships! Kudo's to all!

@dewway - I am not a referee, rather I was present at the 2008 game b/c my daughter played in it. As regards the scoring rules, a goal only counts if an attacking player inside the circle touches it before it goes in. So a ball that is struck from outside the circle and goes in completely untouched most certainly is not a goal. Nor is it a goal, as I understand it, if a ball struck outside the circle touches only a defender inside the circle before going in. And finally, the requirement that an attacking player inside the circle touch the ball automatically resets whenever the ball is played back out of the circle. So if an attacker inside the circle touches the ball and a defender then clears it, the ball must touch an attacking player inside the circle again before a goal will count.

If your description of what happened is accurate, then SP shouldn't have been awarded a goal. But I'd caution that looks can be deceiving - a player's body may be obviously outside the circle while the ball they're swinging at is just inside it. In fact, the more skillful the player (like these would've been), the more likely that is to be the case, their timing & hand/eye coordination is so highly developed.

Actually CJ, you are incorrect. The 2 leading scorers for Glenelg scored 3 even 4 goals in multiple games. Glenelg has a powerful team but the do run up the score when playing less skilled teams and it's all about the stats.

@S - you lost me at the circle! :) Yeah - righttttt, that's about as complicated as it gets.

I've been watching the game for a good 9 or 10 years now and still spend half the game asking, "What was that call?" I figure when a seasoned player/coach answers me with, "I don't know", I don't feel alone. I guess what I've counted as a waved off goal in reality was recorded as no shot at all when the outside circle shot is a factor. I love the intensity of this game, but think the calls that referee's (all of them) make it incredibly hard to follow at times. However, describing it as you just did puts it into perspective and if all that stuff needs to factored into a split second decision, then I understand the difficulty of making a correct call. As far SP was concerned her foot was on the line and ball was outside the circle. I asked the question if the foot on the line was good enough. I replayed the HD film frame by frame and is pretty clear. Like replay in football it's easier to see the correct call in slow motion verses real-time. This one looked obviously but it only takes split seconds to see or miss seeing something. Oh well, that's the human factor.

People say football has a lot of rules that makes it complicated - NOT, compared to field hockey..

Thank you for your explanation.

Looking up scores for both teams, Fallston was another common opponent between the two teams. Glenelg won 2-1, Westminster won 5-1.

For the record..."give Howard County some respect". How about Carroll? The Westminster Owls field hocckey team plays a comparibly tougher schedule by simple virtue of playing in our county. We have seen plenty of games in Howard....some pretty good teams, but a lot of so so. There was only one weak team in Carroll this year. The rest of the field...."on any given day" could rise up and take on anyone. As far as Glenelg softening Severna Park....please. After the Owls took care of BCC 4-0 in the regional.....they were rooting for Severna Park. They wanted to play Severna Park.
They wanted to win a state championship, with SP being a part of the roadway to get there. That is the mark of a champion. They did beat GlenElg preseason (yes, I know it does not count), and being there, both teams were liberal with subs. Congrats to the Glenelg team on an impressive season.
They are a good team that earned their status. Now, how bout a little respect for Westminster. This program has lost a total of 5 games in the last 4 years. 19-0 is deserving of a number 1 ranking, and it was properly assigned.