Golden Bears

The last time Hammond won a Howard County championship, most of its starters this fall were 4 years old.The Golden Bears won state titles in 1989 and 1991 but only once, in 1985, did they win a county title. This year's senior-laden team has the talent and chemistry to produce its second county title."They realize there are no superstars and that they have to work hard for each other," said Hammond coach Peter Di Marco. "They're doing that."Eighth-ranked Hammond (6-0-1 overall, 3-0 league)

Hammond coach Dave Guetler said when you get to this level, you have to pick it up a notch.The No. 3 Golden Bears did just that in the second half of their Class 1A-2A state semifinal match against No. 15 Liberty to come away with a 4-2 win at Catonsville Community College last night.The Golden Bears (12-3) scored two second-half goals and shut down the Lions' attack to advance to the state finals on Friday at Liberty, where they'll meet Loch Raven, a 3-1 winner over Fallston.Senior midfielder Kacy Williams broke a 2-2 with a header off a corner by Elizabeth Bielefeld with 31:30 left to give the Bears the lead for good.

The No. 7 Atholton boys and Hammond's girls took different paths to similar rewards at Friday night's Howard County indoor track championships at the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex. Atholton won five times and had little trouble defending its team title. The Raiders scored points in each of the 15 events and posted 119 points for an easy victory over No. 9 Reservoir (74). Hammond won just twice, but the Golden Bears posted a number of top-three finishes as they scored 93 points to hold off late-charging No. 3 River Hill (83)

A photo of the Hammond-Williamsport girls soccer game that appeared in the sports section in some editions Sunday showed Hammond's Melissa Workman and Williamsport's Kaci Resav. Workman was incorrectly identified in the caption.The Sun regrets the errors.Something was missing. There was no tension, no drama and no overtime.Those elements had become synonymous with Hammond as it won three of four playoff games in shootouts. But yesterday, in the Class 1A state championship game against Williamsport, none of those things surfaced.

Hammond's basketball team will play in its fifth straight Class 2A state championship game today at 1 p.m. against unbeaten Linganore.The Golden Bears will have to play their best game of the season to win. But if yesterday's 64-28 semifinal victory over North Caroline at UMBC is any indication, Hammond might be ready to do just that."

Hammond's softball team could be excused if it didn't play with a lot of energy yesterday, even though the Golden Bears won their first playoff game since the 1997 season. Hammond defeated Southern-AA, 11-1, in a six-inning, Class 2A South region opener. But there wasn't a lot of cheering. That had come a day earlier. On the final day of the regular season, the Golden Bears delivered a punch no less surprising than Hasim Rahman landed on Lennox Lewis in their heavyweight title fight on April 21. Hammond, which lost, 12-0, to Atholton in a five-inning game April 18, stunned the third-ranked Raiders, 8-2. "It was unbelievable," said Hammond junior shortstop Tara Zammichieli, who went 4-for-4, including two doubles, against the three-time county champion Raiders.

After falling in a dramatic fashion in the third round the previous two seasons, the Maryland men's soccer team proved the third time's the charm yesterday, defeating California, 2-1, at Ludwig Field to advance to the NCAA Elite Eight. The Terps (20-3-0) missed on two scoring chances before getting their first goal. Jason Herrick tapped a ball to Casey Townsend, who made a nice turn and passed to Jeremy Hall coming down the pipe, but Hall's strike went high of the goal. Three minutes later, Townsend made another fantastic turn in the box and took the shot himself, but Golden Bears goalkeeper Stefan Frei saved the shot up the middle.

With his team down 4-0 against No. 3 Hammond, Atholton coach Kevin Kelly pulled starter Jamie Williams in the third inning, assigned him to left field and whispered in his ear as he took the game ball. "Keep your head in the game," Kelly said. "You're going to have a chance to win it for us in the end." Kelly's encouragement proved prophetic as Williams doubled home the go-ahead run, completing the comeback and propelling the No. 6 Raiders (9-1) to a 6-5 victory over the previously unbeaten Golden Bears on Friday at Atholton.

Hammond has it. Call it chemistry, call it luck, call it fate. There's something there, and the Golden Bears have harnessed it to propel them to the state tournament for the second year in a row.Playing five sophomores in the back, Hammond shut out ninth-ranked Mount Hebron, 2-0, last night in the Class 2A South region championship game at Howard. Senior midfielder Natalie Trancucci scored her first varsity goal three minutes into the second half, and freshman Heather Steele, called up from the JV for the playoffs, clinched it in the final minute.

The suspense was intense. Hammond led by one point with 12 seconds to play and had possession underneath Glenelg's basket. A combination of the pressure-packed situation and confusing Glenelg defenses led to two straight timeouts without a pass by the No. 12-ranked Golden Bears. Finally, on the third try, Hammond worked the ball to one of its standouts, Tara Zammichieli, and she drew a foul and sank two free throws with seven seconds left to give Hammond a 50-47 victory in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A West Regional at No. 14-ranked Glenelg.