BALTIMORE (Map, News) - If Mount Hebron senior defender Maria Gioia ever finds herself playing against teammate Monica Zabel, she knows exactly what to do.

“You run the other way,” Gioia said of the senior attacker. “Before I knew Monica, I knew I was not messing with that girl. On the field, she has a totally different personality than off the field because she is so intense.”

And that’s exactly what Mount Hebron coach Brooke Kuhl-McClelland loves about one of her team’s captains.

“She’s just totally intense, all the time,” Kuhl-McClelland said. “She’s constantly all-out, 100 percent.”

Zabel, who was a member of Mount Hebron’s undefeated girls basketball team that won the Class 2A title earlier this month, is looking to lead the Vikings to their national-record 12th consecutive state title and 16th overall this spring.

The team had its closest call during its run last year when the Vikings held on to beat North Harford, 7-6, in the 3A/2A final. But Mount Hebron, which went 19-1 last year — the team’s loss ended its nation-record 103-game winning streak — has just three seniors on its roster: Zabel, Gioia and returning leading scorer Alicia Krause, who will miss the season recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

“I just want to be a leader on the field and help everyone,” Zabel said. “We want our senior year to be the most memorable year. We aren’t as good as we used to be and we are going to have to work twice as hard.”

And the senior is seeing the extra effort pay off.

Zabel scored three goals and added an assist in the top-ranked Viking’s 26-2 thrashing of Oakland Mills in its season opener on Tuesday — and the success is especially sweet for the senior. Zabel was ineligible to play sports as a sophomore because she opted to remain at Mount Hebron after her neighborhood was redistricted to attend Marriotts Ridge, the county’s newest school.

As a sophomore, Zabel was prohibited from playing any sports after playing three — soccer, basketball and lacrosse — as a freshman. Instead of scoring goals, she recorded the accomplishments of others as team manager.

“Monica is one of the reasons why this coaching staff returned for this season,” Kuhl-McClelland said. “We were honoring her sacrifice.”

The team’s easy win against Oakland Mills, however, hasn’t affected its focus. The Vikings are well aware of the expectations playing for a team that has lost just one game to another Howard County school — Centennial in 1990 — in the team’s history.

“They are always feeling the pressure,” Kuhl-McClelland said. “It doesn’t matter if there are 20 seniors or three seniors, the bull’s eye on their back has grown.”

And the team’s ability to deal with being the team everyone wants to beat, as well as a roster featuring 15 juniors and five sophomores, will determine if it can continued its storied run.

“It’s so nerve wracking, you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders,” Gioia, who will play at Virginia next spring, said. “But you know your teammates are helping you carry the weight as well.”

dcarey@baltimoreexaminer.com