The George Mason High School girls soccer team clenched the regular season district championship title after a tiebreaker game against rival Clarke County High School, and blanked Strasburg High School in the district tournament quarterfinals. Mason beat Clarke County 5-4 last Thursday after an intense overtime game and swept Strasburg 6-0 Monday, bringing the team one step closer to its ultimate goal: the state tournament.
The fiery start of the Mason-Clarke County game warmed up the fans for a long, nerve-racking game. Only six minutes into the game, sophomore Claire Trevisan received a long throw-in, which she controlled and blasted a shot to the far right corner. Two minutes later, freshman Ava Roth put a shot into the back of the net, giving Mason a 2-0 lead.
Although Clarke County seemed to be controlling the ball more, the team could not execute its opportunities, while the Mason squad was taking advantage of every chance it got. However, Clarke County did take advantage halfway through the half with a shot to the far right corner of the goal. Despite Ava Roth’s continuous steals, crisp passes, long throw-ins, and great ball handling, Clarke County managed to get in a last-minute goal, which ended the half with the teams tied 2-2.
Trevisan struck first in the second half when she tapped in the ball off of a corner kick. Despite Mason’s improvement of hustle and great saves by freshman goalie Katie Cheney, Clarke County’s star forward managed to score halfway through the second half.
After a questionable call that took away a goal scored by senior captain Leah Roth, freshman Mary Keenan struck a shot that soared over the goalie and into the net.
With the intensity level rising and several chances on goal for both teams, Mason gave everything it had in the last minutes. With only three minutes remaining, though, Clarke County banked a shot off of a corner kick and ended regulation time tied with Mason 4-4.
In the seventh minute of overtime, Leah Roth passed a through ball to Keenan, which put her face to face with Clarke County’s goalkeeper. Keenan made a move to get by the goalkeeper and passed the ball into the empty net.
With help from Ava Roth, who frustrated and shut down Clarke County’s star player, and freshman Katie Cheney, who came up with amazing saves, Mason ended its regular season with a 5-4 victory over Clarke County.
This win put Mason in first place in the Bull Run District for the regular season, which gives the team home field advantage for the majority of the remainder of its post-season games.
Using their home-field advantage against Strasburg in the district tournament quarterfinals, Mason scored in the first minute when Ava Roth tapped in a cross. With Ava Roth scoring once more, Mason had a 2-0 lead at halftime. For a 6-0 victory, sophomore Camille Rice scored twice, Ava Roth scored a third goal, and junior Araba Ankuma beat the goalie for a last-minute goal.
Mason played in the district tournament semifinals against Rappahannock County High School Wednesday, but results were not available at press time. The district championship game will be played Thursday.
