Revision 11/23/2013: Both the JV and Varsity Cheerleading squads placed first at the Frederick County Cheerleading Competition and are now the reigning Frederick County Champions. The Varsity squad advanced to the regional competition where they placed 4th and earned a bid to the State competition.

This fall has been an exciting one in the Lancer sports community. With the football team in postseason play, fans still have a lot to look forward to. Linganore also had some successful seasons come to an end. Boys’ and girls’ varsity soccer had a good run in the playoffs and the boys’ and girls’ JV soccer teams both had winning seasons. The JV and varsity volleyball teams also had successful seasons, but were bumped out of the playoffs by Tuscarora. The varsity and JV field hockey teams both had a strong season with varsity making it to the regional semifinals.

Soccer

The boys’ JV team finished with a record of 7-5 and the girls’ JV with an undefeated record. Varsity soccer will be building toward success in the next couple of years. Although the future is bright, Linganore had a lot to cheer for this season. The varsity boys ended the year with a 7-5 record.

Senior captain of the boys’ varsity, Andy Kirk, said the team performed “pretty well…. We had a good defense,” but, “We needed to have more scoring,” said Kirk. In the team’s final game against TJ in the first round of the playoffs, the team lost a hard-fought game 3-1. “We could have taken advantage of more scoring opportunities and matched up better on corner kicks,” said Kirk.

The girls’ varsity team ended the year with an outstanding 11-1-2 record. They made an impressive run in the postseason, but lost in the regional finals to Damascus. The girls lost on a heartbreaking penalty kick early into overtime. It was the team’s first trip to the regional finals since 2008.

Volleyball

As for volleyball, the girls’ ended an impressive regular season with a record of 12-4. Unfortunately, in the playoffs the team suffered a close loss to Tuscarora in five games.

Coach Ferguson said, “The team improved a lot over the course of the season… We worked hard to overcome obstacles.” She added that the team had a strong serve but needed to “have more consistent hitting.”

With the team losing seven seniors, it is going to be tough to repeat this kind of success, but Coach Ferguson is confident in the team’s future. “We have young players coming in with experience that should allow us to carry on the tradition.”

Field Hockey

The field hockey girls weren’t going to go unnoticed this year either. The team had a 10-4 regular season record and was a strong favorite in the playoffs this year. They made it to the regional semifinals against rival Urbana, but were unable to pull out a win in a nail-biting 2-1 loss.

Senior McKenzie Ridgely was one of the best players this year and one of the leaders for the team. She said that the team “worked well together” throughout the year. She also believed the team could have gone farther in the postseason. “We could have communicated better in the last game.” One of the biggest weaknesses for the team, she said, was playing on grass since they play on turf at the stadium.

As for the future of the team, Ridgely is confident with the upcoming juniors and sophomores. “There are a lot of good players to take [the seniors’] places.”

Football

Even with all the success of the fall sports teams this year, football continues to capture the attention of Lancer fans. Who can blame them when the team went 9-1 in the regular season and has been dominating almost all of the competition? With the playoffs just starting, fans are looking forward to a strong postseason push.

One of the biggest games of the year of was against their rival, Urbana. That game decided who would get the number one seed in the playoffs. The Lancers capitalized on that opportunity, winning the game 20-7. The team relied heavily on the running game with Philip Butler, Dante Butler, and Justin Cooney all at running back. In fact, the team only passed the ball twice the entire game, but one of those passes was a perfect third down pass downfield from quarterback Clark Stieren to wide receiver Josh Gontarek.

With the team’s only loss against Middletown (who is not in Linganore’s playoff division) it looks like the Lancers will have a good chance to play at M&T Bank Stadium in December.