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The Seneca Valley girls soccer team had five days to prepare to play without three-year starting midfielder Jasmine Sampson: from when the 3A West Region draw came out Monday until its first-round game Saturday against visiting Einstein.

The fourth-seeded Screaming Eagles did just fine without their star junior, easing past the Titans, 2-0. Sampson was away for her monthly practice with the Trinidad & Tobago U-17 National Team this weekend; Screaming Eagles coach Claude Sayag originally thought the team was going to have a first-round bye.

"Would it have been nice to have Jasmine playing? Yes," Sayag said. "But we have 11 players on the field and every player has a job to do. The girls knew they would have to step it up even more to win the 50-50 balls, and take quality shots on goal and try and keep the ball mostly on [Einstein's] side of the field."

With the win, Seneca Valley (8-5-0) set itself up for a regional quarterfinal showdown Tuesday against Clarksburg, a 1-0 winner over Watkins Mill.

The Eagles have won five of their last six games, and beat Clarksburg, 3-1, during the regular season. They tied Damascus for the region's third seed and owned most of the tiebreakers, but the Swarmin' Hornets got the third seed by virtue of a head-to-head win in the regular season.

Since there are 13 teams in the region, the third seed gets a first-round bye, while the fourth does not. Thus, Sampson missed the team's first tournament game.

She is certainly an integral part of Seneca Valley's success, but what has made this season its most successful in four years has been the way her teammates have upped their play.

Of Sayag's 17 varsity players, 12 have scored at least one goal. Besides Sampson, three have scored at least three goals apiece: junior Denise Gatcham (6), freshman Breanna Henderson (4) and junior Bailey Roman (3).

The Screaming Eagles adjusted well to Saturday's difficult playing conditions; the field was wet and torn up from Friday's football game and there was a stiff breeze. But most of the game was played, as Sayag hoped, on Einstein's side of the field.

"I told the girls to keep the ball on the ground because the wind was strong," Sayag said. "They did a good job with one or two quick touches and keeping the ball in front of their player."

Like the teams' regular-season matchup, a 1-0 Seneca win, Saturday was a closely contested, highly physical battle.

Junior Bailey Roman put Seneca Valley up 1-0 at halftime with a nicely placed shot just inside the left goal post three minutes before halftime. Henderson added the insurance goal with 3 minutes left in regulation.

Einstein (4-6-2) was without sweeper Katie Dunn, but junior goalie Jordan Solomon did a good job defending the net against Seneca Valley's 11 shots on goal.

"We could have had two goals early and when you play a team like Seneca Valley, if you don't score when you have the opportunity, you're not going to win," Einstein coach Joan Rackey. "This is not the way we wanted to end the season, but it is what it is."