A sweaty huddle of exhausted and hardworking girls circled up and hollered in triumph, reaching for the huge wooden trophy that crowned them champions for the ninth consecutive time. Mason girls soccer triumphed over Radford (13-1) for the state title on June 11, at Radford University.
Sophomore Victoria Rund was the star of the game, putting Mason 2-0 in the first half, and earning a hat trick with her third goal by the end of the game.
“It was a relief that we were ahead and that we could settle down a little bit,” Rund said. “[The hat trick] was awesome because it was my first one this season.”
Junior Rebecca Crouch, sophomore Isabella Armstrong, and senior Corinne Carson each scored one goal to add to Mason’s 6-1 triumph over the Radford girls.
In the second half, with nearly 20 minutes left of the game, one Radford player dribbled through Mason’s defense and prevented the Mason girls from a shutout.
However the Mason girls did not roll over at the 3-1 lead and scored three more goals to finish the game, with Crouch’s final goal scored with eight minutes left.
“I felt nervous [when they scored] but it was more motivation to keep pushing through,” Crouch said. “Scoring was exciting because that’s when we knew we had won for the ninth time and it was final.”
The road to states was rockier this year than in previous years, as last year, the team went to states with an undefeated record but had one loss and one tie to their name at the 2016 State Tournament.
The team’s first District game of the season against Warren County ended with a score of 3-3 and a bus full of disappointed Mustangs leaving the Wildcat field. However, the team proved resilient when they faced Warren County once more and triumphed over them, 5-0.
Once again, the team faced adversity with a shocking 3-4 loss to Clarke County on the eve of the Conference Tournament. Following the loss, the team came together to discuss the season thus far and changes that needed to be made leading into postseason.
“We just sat down [and] had some talks about expectations this year and what we needed to focus on,” Rund said. “We came out with the attitude that nothing is given to us and we have to earn everything.”
The team came back against their next opponents and mercy ruled with scores of 8-0 and 9-0 in the first week of postseason play.
As the team clinched the Conference 35 and Region 2A East titles, individually, the girls picked up honors as well. Underclassmen fared well in awards with freshman Maura Mann making second team All-District; sophomore Victoria Rund made first team All-District, first team All-Conference, second team All-Region; and sophomore Isabella Armstrong made first team All-District, All-Conference, All-Region, and All-State.
Juniors Carly Roberson and Rebecca Crouch both earned first team All-District, All-Conference, All-Region, and All-State. Crouch was also named the Region 2A East and 2A State Player of the Year and is committed to the University of South Florida.
Of the team’s six seniors, Clara Frost made second team All-District with Kate Mills, who also made first team All-Conference, All-Region, and All-State. Ella Howard and Corinne Carson- committed to University of Mary Washington- earned first team All-District, All-Conference, All-Region, and All-State.
Carson earned Honorable Mention All-Met honors and Crouch made second team All-Met, high honors from the Washington Post.
The team, losing six seniors, will be crippled at the loss but have rising seniors Crouch and Roberson to carry the hopeful team to the tenth consecutive state title in the 2017 season.
