Last Thursday, the Girl’s Varsity Lacrosse team beat Park View 18-0. The ball never reached the defensive side of the field though, so naturally, goalie, Meghan Powell had a shut out.

Gwen Edwards, Courtney Ready, Vanessa Mann, Taylor Bottock, Christina Perez, MC Glover, Abby Johansen, Elsa Schultz, Amanda Rolander, and Sally Blakemore each contributed at least one goal.

The defensive line had a very easy game, with a majority of the girls only touching the ball once. Chelsea Wilkes, Katrina Snyder, Rebecca Gomez, Joy Nystrom, and Grace Kuipers all played fantastic defense.

Today the girls took on W&L at home last Friday. 

The Boys’ Varsity soccer team travelled to Freedom High School, on Wednesday, March 18, to come away with their first win of the season.

The Mustangs took the field and began playing tactical possession, keeping control of the ball and winning most of the 50/50 balls off of restarts. The Mustangs sustained strong defense for the remainder of the first half, despite having their All-State and All-MET player, Anthony Andrianarison, on the bench and unable to play due to injuries. Mustang Natan Lailari, stepped up and into the defensive position, bringing the ball up out of the back and taking on the opposing forwards successfully. Jack Cashin also held off the Eagle’s forwards, preventing Eagle player #22 from getting a shot off before the end of the half.

The first half ended with the score tied at 0-0.

In the second half, the Mustangs came out strong, maintaining possession for the majority of the first 10 minutes and creating multiple goal scoring opportunities. It all paid off when Cashin took a throw-in within the 18 yard line. His long throw reached Jon Brooks at the back goal post, who swept the ball into the back of the net.

The Mustangs scored again after Teddy Rueckert drew a foul on the opposing team in the box at the 25 minute mark. Elio Randrianasolo took the penalty kick, placing the ball in the lower right corner as the goalie dove to the left.

With only 20 minutes left on the clock, the Eagles broke through the Mustang defense and scored their first goal. The Mustangs bounced back, picking up the speed of play and pushing back the Eagles. As the time wound down, the Mustangs counterattacked out of the back with a long ball to Brooks on the right side of the field. Brooks brought the ball down to the corner and crossed it to Jordan Robarge who possessed the ball with his back to the goal, made a quick turn, and poked the ball between the keeper’s legs.

The game ended with a strong Mustang victory of 3-1.

After finalizing a strong group of players, the boys soccer team has been having a pretty good fight this season. Their first scrimmage was against Potomac Falls on Friday, March 6. It was a hard battle to win, ending with a tie of one to one. Alex Castuble made the golden point for Mason.

Their second scrimmage was against Briar Woods from Loudon County on March 11. Their hard battle ended with the score of two to three; two for Mason and three for Briar Woods. Andrew Aries scored a goal as did Patrick Rollo.

And before the big state finals for the girl’s basketball team this past Saturday, there was an exciting showdown on the soccer field. The varsity team played against the alumni of Mason soccer. It was very intense, running up and down the field fighting to score a goal. Unfortunately, the varsity was owned by the alumni ending in a score of three to one. Teddy T. Rucket was the mastermind in scoring the goal for Mason.

This soccer team is fighting hard and strong to keep up with their reputation as a team.

This past Saturday, the George Mason Mustangs defeated the Floyd County Buffaloes by a score of 53-46, winning the Virginia A Division 2 Championship for the first time since 1998.

While it took Mason a while to get warmed up, there was no turning back once they took the lead in the second quarter. Backed by a tremendous effort from their starting lineup, the Mustangs established a relentless tempo that would lead them to victory.

The Mustangs were led by junior Nicole Mitchell, who not only played the power forward position, but acted as a point guard of sorts for Mason at various times throughout the game by handling the ball and setting up teammates for open shots. After being held scoreless in the first quarter, Mitchell began to show why she was named Bull Run District Player of the year. Mitchell hit a variety of difficult shots, including a spinning shot for her first points of the game, a three-pointer, and a 16 foot jumper towards the end of the game, and ended the game with 13 points and led the team with 15 rebounds.

Mason also got magnificent performances from the rest of its starting lineup. Freshman forward Bria Platenburg led the team with 14 points, many of which came off of wide open layups off of a fastbreak or a precision pass. In her final game, center Kim Kenny scored eight points, including two free throws at the end of the game to seal the victory. Guard Lauren Kane, who along with Platenburg is a freshman, put up seven points, including a three pointer midway through the second quarter that gave Mason a five point lead and helped spark the momentum for the rest of the game. And rounding out the starting lineup was junior point guard Chantal Thomas, who put up eight points. While Thomas technically received four assists, she would often throw the ball to an open teammate on the fastbreak, resulting in numerous open layups for her teammates. Thomas also gave the Floyd defense nightmares with the tempo she set and the ball movement she created.

Much like in Friday’s victory over Lancaster, virtually all of the Mason points came from the starting lineup. The only points to come from the bench were the two scored by junior Kelsey Kane off a layup at the end of the third quarter while acting as the team’s center. In spite of this, the bench still provided for Mason, particularly point guard Leah Roth, the third member of Mason’s freshman class, who helped dictate the tempo that Thomas had established.

Mason was playing a team in Floyd County that had not only won the championship last year, but eliminated Mason in the semifinals along the way. The Buffaloes also returned four of their five starters from the year before, while Mason had graduated eight seniors from the previous season. In spite of the disadvantage in experience, Mason was relentless in their defense. Floyd’s star guard Brittany Avancini, who scored 31 points in last year’s game, was held in check for nearly the entire game. While Avancini still managed to score 19 points, she missed all of her field goal attempts in the second half, and scored only six points in the final two quarters of her high school career. She also struggled throughout the game with her shot selection, shooting only 5-19 from the floor. Floyd as a team struggled throughout the entire game with free throws and three-pointers. Floyd only converted on two of their three point attempts in the entire game, their first one and their last one, with about 15 misses in between. The team only made 30% of their shots, and were outrebounded by Mason 43-28.

“Our 1-2-2 defense and our rebounding,” said Junior forward Adeyianka Bowman when asked which aspect of the team worked best for Mason.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Thomas stole the ball from Avancini and ran in for an uncontested layup. That gave Mason a 14 point lead, their largest of the game, a lead that gave the Mustang fans a big sigh of relief, as it appeared that last year’s defeat at the hands of Floyd would finally be avenged.

After the layup however, Floyd went on a furious run that saw them score nine unanswered points, capped off by a three-pointer that cut the lead to five. Thomas and Kenny were able to make their free throws though, and Floyd would only score once more the rest of the way.

The game was experienced by a crowd noticeably smaller than the one that had attended the game against Lancaster, thanks in large part to the number of students who took the SAT in the morning. The lack in numbers did not mean a drop in intensity though, as the fans who attended were vocal and cheered on their Mustangs every possession. In acknowledgement of the tremendous role the fans had played all season, the Mustang players gave the crowd a standing ovation at the conclusion of the game.

As the final buzzer rang, first year head coach LaBryan Thomas watched in joy as the Mustangs celebrated at half-court and piled on Chantal Thomas, many with tears in their eyes over what they had worked tirelessly for months to achieve. In a fitting manner, Mitchell won the Player of the Game honor for her tremendous performance.

With much of their team returning next year, Mason looks to defend their crown as the biggest target for all the other teams they play. For now though, they can enjoy being State Champions.  

Last Thursday night, the George Mason girls lacrosse team suffered their first defeat to Loudon County High School with a final score of 11 to 18. Although the girls lost, the whole team worked unbelievably hard.  

Leading the defensive side, Chelsea Wilkes, sophomore, played a spectacular game having had five turnovers, more than fifteen groundballs, and control of the ball right off the draw four times. Grace Kuipers, Rebecca Gomez, and Joy Nystrom also had great games preventing easy shots left and right. Goalie Meghan Powell put in a monster effort in the cage. 

Leading the offensive line, Sally Blakemore had three goals and one assist. Gwen Edwards had three goals as well. Taylor Bottock and Christina Perez each pitched in two goals and Amanda Rolander scored one goal and had three assists.

Although the girls lost, they play Loudon County again on April 30. Their next game is on March 19 against Park View High at 6:00 p.m. at Park View High School.

Last night the George Mason girls’ lacrosse team kicked off their season with an incredible win against J.E.B Stuart High School defeating them with a final score of 19-3. Although it was just a scrimmage, every girl on the team put in a monster amount of effort.

For the offensive side, Gwen Edwards, Sally Blakemore, Christina Perez, MC Glover, Taylor Bottock, Amanda Rolander, Katie Fletcher, and Elsa Schultz all contributed goals. Holding down the defensive side, there were fantastic steals and turnovers from Chelsea Wilkes, Grace Kuipers, and Joy Nystrom. Goalie, Meghan Powell, did a fantastic job by letting in only three goals.

On Thursday, the Mustangs will take on Loudon County at 7:30 at home on the turf of Moore Cadillac Stadium.