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By most people's standards, Bethesda-Chevy Chase junior midfielder Vic Gersh's 2008 girls soccer season was a good one. She tallied 11 goals and 9 assists in the Barons' Class 3A state title campaign.

But her name got lost in B-CC's galaxy of stars. Gersh has certainly stepped out of the shadows this fall: Her team-high 20th goal clinched the Barons' 1-0 win over Bowie in Friday's Class 4A state semifinal at Richard Montgomery.

The win marked their third state final appearance in four years; they face Urbana at 5 p.m. Friday at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Frederick County's Hawks defeated B-CC (17-1-0) in the 2007 Class 3A West Region final en route to their only state title.

"Vic and I talked this year before the season that this was her year to really jump on the scene even more than last year," ninth-year B-CC coach Rob Kurtz said. "Sometimes you see a player [rack up] big numbers but it's against weaker teams. Vic scored two against Georgetown Visitation, she scored against Northwest, Walter Johnson, Blair; she scored the winning goal against Quince Orchard. She is doing it against everyone."

She and U-17 National Team pool midfielder Alex Doll, who Kurtz deemed his best-ever player at B-CC, make quite a formidable tandem in the midfield. Defense was a question mark at the beginning of the season, but seniors Mallory MacRostie and Anna Genova and sophomores Kara Klontz and Hannah Levin have freed up the midfield to get forward.

In one of the season's biggest surprises, two-time state champion Quince Orchard failed to make the state final for the first time in four years.

The top-seeded Cougars found out the day before their 4-1 loss to No. 2 Tuscarora in the Class 3A West Region final Nov. 10 that four-year varsity midfielder Yvonne Latour was out with mononucleosis.

That hit, coupled with four-year starting forward Ele Margelos' recent season-ending knee injury, proved insurmountable.

"It hurt to lose Ele, but we were beginning to compensate," Cougars coach Peg Keiller said. "Losing Yvonne the day before was just such an emotional letdown. She's just like the energizer bunny and a train all wrapped in one in the middle of the field. That's a girl who would run through brick walls."

Nevertheless Quince Orchard had an enviable campaign. All three of its losses were to state finalists: Tuscarora, Urbana and B-CC.

"I told the girls that, first of all, we were still in the region final, which most people aren't," Keiller said. "And I told them, ‘All these things that you've accomplished are awesome and you will never forget them.'"

Nov. 10 was bittersweet for Churchill, as well.

A heart-wrenching penalty-kicks loss to B-CC ended the Bulldogs' best-ever campaign, including a school-record number of wins (14-1-0) and their first regional appearance in 13 years.

Leading scorer Pam Vranis (22 goals, 15 assists) was the focal point of Churchill's attack, but as the season wore on some of the Bulldogs' newer faces began taking more initiative.

Those players, like sophomore Jenna Cantor, who scored three of her seven total goals in the postseason, and juniors Alexis Shay and Emily Heger, will all be back next year.

"In the past there has been a disconnect between years," Churchill coach Haroot Hakopian said. "But I think we have started a tradition this year."