A decade and one.

Mount Hebron's 7-6 win over No. 9 North Harford in last night's state Class 3A-2A championship was the closest call the No. 1 Vikings have had in winning 11 straight state titles.

The Vikings have reached the final every year since 1992 and have lost only once, in 1996. That year, Annapolis took the title, 11-10, in double overtime.

For the next 10 years, the Vikings won their state titles by an average margin of 10 goals. Their 1997 and 1998 victories came by two goals each, but the next closest came in 2005 when they beat Urbana, 11-5. Still that game was 10-0 at halftime and never in doubt. Last year, the Vikings defeated Stephen Decatur, 16-0, in the final.

So in edging such strong competition, last night's one-goal victory was really something to celebrate, coming with three goals each from Alicia Krause and Monica Zabel and a stellar defensive effort backed by Caitlin O'Malley's eight saves.

Late in the first half, Jessica Giles took a shot to her left cheekbone and had to sit out for a while to see how badly she was hurt. But the sophomore midfielder returned to play a key role in the second half.

Her role in helping the Vikings dominate possession, helped turn a 5-4 North Harford lead at the half into a 7-5 Mount Hebron lead on Giles' goal with 16:14 to go.

"We had to keep her out for a while. They wanted to keep her under observation for a concussion," said Vikings coach Brooke Kuhl-McClelland, "so once we got her back in the game I thought that our draw control possession seemed to go up."

The Vikings will graduate 13 seniors this year, but Krause, Zabel and Giles will be among the returning contingent to go after state title No. 12 in a row next spring.


Oh so close

North Harford did everything it could to dethrone the Vikings, but the Hawks came up just a little short.

Still, coach Tara Buecker would have needed at least two game balls to hand out last night. One to Corey Donohoe, who scored five goals, and the other to goalie Lauren Scott, who made 10 of her 13 saves in the second half to keep the Hawks in the game. But they were just two standouts in a stellar team effort.

"I told them to keep their heads high, because they played well," said Buecker, who led the Hawks to their first state final in her first season as head coach. "They played their hearts out and they did everything they could do to get the win, and it just didn't work out our way. I'm so proud of them.

"The whole season, they've worked hard, and they haven't given up [for] one game. ...And that's what I always asked from them from the beginning of the season -- be relentless and to keep pushing, and that's what they did."

The Hawks finished 17-2, losing only a pair of one-goal games to No. 3 and Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference champ John Carroll, 10-9, and to the Vikings.

Donohoe polished off an impressive season with some exceptional goals to finish with 83 goals and 42 assists.

"We were all pumped up for it. We were ready for them," said Donohoe. "I think we played very well. Lauren Scott, our goalie, stepped up so much and did an amazing job, and we [had] faced them before. We faced them my freshman and my sophomore year, so we knew what they had."

Donohoe, who will play at North Carolina next season, was smiling after the game despite the disappointment.

"We never gave up and everyone played their hearts out, so you can't ask for anything more than that," she said.