Mount Hebron Wins 100th Straight Game

Barring a shocking upset, yesterday's win by the Mount Hebron girls' lacrosse team will be a national record for exactly two more days.

The Vikings' mark for consecutive victories will stand at 100 -- a number reached after a 22-0 home victory against Atholton -- until they play again on Monday, when the streak almost certainly will increase, just as it has with each game for the past six years.

In that respect, yesterday's win mattered little to the record books kept by the National Federation of High Schools.

Instead, the significance of win No. 100 existed in the Vikings' yelps of excitement as their accomplishment was announced over the public-address system. It existed in the contagious giggles moving among teammates as they posed for a postgame picture in front of a banner commemorating the milestone.

And it existed in the celebratory pile of girls that took place after those pictures, a stark contrast to the Vikings' usual "pick-up-our-briefcase-and-go" reaction to winning, Coach Brooke Kuhl-McClelland said.

"That's why I tried to encourage them to go ahead and celebrate," she said. "You don't know when the next win is going to come; you don't know when you're going to lose. Sometimes I feel like we're the only team that's expected not to lose."

The Vikings -- winners of 14 state titles, including 10 in a row, both national records -- planned to savor No. 100 at a dinner last night at the home of twin sisters and teammates Jill and Katie Rekart. Instead of worrying about the next opponent, the Vikings expected to eat pizza and enjoy being teammates on the most accomplished girls' lacrosse program in high school history.

Their only concern all night was going to be deciding where to hang the commemorative banner at school.

"It's going to be amazing; so much fun," said sophomore Ashley Bruns, who had six goals. "It's going to be a blast."

No. 1 Mount Hebron 22 Atholton 0 Unofficially Speaking: The National Federation of High Schools doesn't recognize it for lack of evidence, according to Mount Hebron Coach Brooke Kuhl-McClelland, but Loch Raven's unofficial streak of 104 consecutive wins still is a target for the Vikings. If It Ends: Mount Hebron, ranked No. 1 in last season's final national poll by Laxpower.com, likely will face its toughest challenges from No. 4 St. Paul's of Baltimore on April 9, No. 6 Conestoga (Pa.) on April 13 and No. 2 Moorestown (N.J.) on May 5.