After a disappointing finish in the preceding Liberty District Tournament, the Langley Saxons did far better on the next run of the ladder.
With a 3-0 record, the Saxons won the 6D North Region tournament, defeating the McLean Highlanders, 1-0, in overtime on Langley’s home field in the high-school championship match. The Saxons, the No. 3 seed from the Liberty District, downed the Madison Warhawks, 5-4, in the first round, then blanked Liberty tourney champion Washington-Liberty, 3-0, in the semifinals.
With the 3-0 record, Langley improved to 13-2 this season.
In the district tournament, Langley had been eliminated by Yorktown in the semifinals.
Top players for Langley this season included first-team all-district selections Aidan Connolly and Cole Fisher, second-teamers Ethan Gartner, Amr Areikat, Even Preta and Dante Tosado and honorable-mentions Bryan Choe, Ryan Roncskevitz and Gabae Silva.
With a 2-1 record, McLean (8-9-1) had a strong showing in the region. The fourth seed from the Liberty District defeated the Oakton Cougars, 3-2, in the first round, then edged the Yorktown Patriots, 2-1, in the semifinals. Oakton was the Concorde District tournament winner and Yorktown finished runner-up in the Liberty tourney.
Top players for McLean are first-team district selections Jalen Holliday and Will Mahoney; second-teamers Jo Margita, Noah Barnes, Kaan Kocabal, Jacob Miller, Jeremy Jeannot and Nick Wanke; and honorable-mention choices Nathan Jun and Daniel Barrera.
Both Langley and McLean move on to play in the Class 6 state tournament this week.
NOTES: During the regular season, Langley also defeated McLean by a 1-0 score . . . Langley won the region title this season for the first time since the 2017 season. Before that, the Saxons previously had won the region crown in 2015. Last season, Langley lost in semifinals for the region tourney. McLean fell in the region semifinals the past two