By Drew Costley

George Mason High School’s girls varsity soccer team suffered its first district defeat, 1-0, to Clarke County High School last Friday. The Mustangs got back to their dominant ways on Tuesday, beating district foe Central High School 7-0 for the second time this season.

Clarke County is now the only undefeated team in the Bull Run District. George Mason lost its first match-up against the Eagles in 2012, before going on to beat them in each of their four subsequent match-ups. Still, Head Coach Jennifer Parsons said the loss was “frustrating.”

“I thought the girls were really prepared. They warmed up really well. They were hyped,” Parsons said. “And then as soon as the whistle blew it’s like we deflated, the energy level dropped. We were very timid; it’s like we were waiting to see what they were going to do before we decided to play 100 percent.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Katie Cheney had 10 saves against the Eagles. With the one goal they scored, the Eagles became the first and only team in the district to score on the Mustangs.

“After the game, most of us were just kind of upset with how we played,” said Mustang team captain Miska Chehata, a senior defender.

In their post-game meeting after a dominant win over Central, Parsons told her team they “took a few steps in the right direction.” The Mustangs were up 3-0 before seven minutes had passed.

“I think it was important for them to have a positive start coming off of the loss from Friday night,” Parsons said.

Sophomore forward Ava Roth scored the Mustangs’ first goal off of a pass from junior midfielder Claire Trevisan in the second minute of the game. Chehata scored the next goal in the next minute off of a pass from senior midfielder Maggie Mascarenhas. Mascarenhas scored the third goal off of a pass from Trevisan in the seventh minute.

“We’ve been working on some things like playing through-balls and doing some stronger crosses,” Mascarenhas said.

Senior defender Hailey Thomas scored the Mustangs’ fourth goal in the 17th minute off of a pass from Roth. The team’s strategy of pressuring opposing defenses by using every player except the goalkeeper on offense was effective against Central. Every goal the Mustangs scored on the Falcons except for Roth’s was scored by a defender or midfielder.

“I think our defense is really dynamic and we can send players up and still have enough in the back to defend,” Chehata said. “It was especially easy because most of their players were playing defense so it was easier for us to push up and find space in the middle.”

Trevisan scored the Mustangs’ fifth goal in the 58th minute. In the 63rd minute, sophomore midfielder Jessica Gemond bent a corner kick to score the Mustangs’ sixth goal. Junior midfielder Camille Rice scored the final goal of the game in the 74th minute off of a pass from Mascarenhas.

The Mustangs travel to Madison County High School on Friday to play the Mountaineers.