By Paul Tenorio
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 2, 2008; E04

When junior Sean Murnane transferred to Herndon from Westfield, many coaches felt the Hornets were getting the offensive threat they needed: a pure goal-scorer who could complete an already talented team.

After three games, all wins, No. 3 Herndon has scored 11 goals with Murnane (four goals, one assist) and senior Christian McLaughlin (five goals, five assists) leading the way.

"They're pretty much probably 90 percent of our offense right now," said Herndon Coach Sean Lanigan, who credited the duo's time together in club soccer for the instant chemistry. "They know where each other's going to be all the time, they have a one-two combo no one can defend."

The Hornets knocked off South Lakes, 5-1, Monday with McLaughlin and Murnane scoring two goals each over 25 minutes in the first half. But Herndon's most impressive win came late last month against the defending state champion, ninth-ranked Jefferson, which defeated No. 4 Yorktown, 1-0, on Monday night. Murnane scored two goals in that game, his first with the Hornets after the transfer.

Lanigan called the game "a great win," and said the team knows that with continued strong results against teams as talented as Jefferson, the expectations will continue to increase.

"They're fairly confident, they've got some swagger to them," Lanigan said. "They expect to get to the regional final, to get to states. . . . We've got the talent to be there, we've just got to keep working together, play hard and stay healthy."

The Hornets will get plenty of tests before that -- starting April 11 when they play No. 5 Robinson, then in a huge matchup with No. 1 Westfield on April 28.

When Ivan Callejas scored in the 65th minute last Friday night to give Heritage a 1-0 win against No. 10 Potomac Falls, the goal meant more than just an upstart team knocking off its favored rival.

Potomac Falls, which has been a dominant program in Virginia AA soccer for several years, had not lost a regular season game since April 19, 2005, and had lost just three times in the regular season dating from May 1, 2003.

Heritage, led by first-year coach Betsy Munson -- who guided Clarke County to state titles in 2005 and 2006 and state runner-up finishes in '03 and '04 -- had game-changing performances from defender Bryan Mill, who shut down Panthers' striker Uche Onyeador, Virginia's reigning Gatorade Player of the Year; and Josh Thiel, who assisted on the game- winning goal.

The Panthers continued to struggle last night, surrendering leads three times in regulation and losing in double overtime to Loudoun County on a goal by Chris Herrarte -- his second on the night.

Onyeador, a two-time All-Met, set up the Panthers' first two goals and gave them a 3-2 lead with just less than 20 minutes remaining on a header, but Loudoun County's Matt Backenstoss answered with five minutes left to tie at 3 and send the game to overtime.

In the second overtime period, Herrarte collected a ball in the box, dribbled through defenders and slotted home a goal with 3 minutes 24 seconds left to send Potomac Falls to its second straight loss.