So far, this season has been an impressive one for George Mason High School boys Varsity lacrosse. With a record of 5-2, the Mustangs are off to a great start.

On Monday, after a tough JV 6-4 loss, the varsity boys took the field to play the Loudoun Valley Vikings. Although the Mustangs scored the first two goals of the game and the score was back and forth throughout the first half, the Vikings turned it up in the second half to beat the Mustangs 12-7.  

Despite an absolutely dominating defense, led by seniors Finn Roou (27), Jack Gilligan (25), and and Reed Bond (14), as well as an outstanding performance by sophomore attackman Tucker Gaskins (1) and senior midfielder Ethan Rosenberger (20) , it was not enough to counteract a mediocre Mustang offense and the Viking dominated face-offs.  

“We didn’t play our game. We tried to go too fast at the beginning. We should have tried to keep control of the ball and slow it down,” says senior captain Jack Gilligan.

Within the first 40 seconds of the game, Tucker Gaskins scored the first goal with an assist from Rosenberger. These two would prove to be valuable assets to the Mustangs during this game–so much that Rosenberger became a target of a barrage of illegal checks from the Vikings, resulting in a series of penalties throughout the game.

Although the beginning of the first half was Mustang dominated, with Mason jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, the Vikings began to take control towards the end of the half.

The ball was held mainly by the Viking offense, although the Mason defense was mostly able to prevent them from scoring.

When the Vikings did score a goal, it was voided by the referee after it was discovered that the team was offsides. Similarly, the Vikings also got a goal retracted due to a crease violation.

Although the game was tied seconds before the end of the first half, the Vikings managed to score with 10.4 seconds on the clock, putting them up 6-5.

Despite the several chances that they were given in the second half due to a number of penalties by the Vikings, the Mustangs struggled to place their shots and the team began to run out of gas as the game came to an end.

However, the Mustangs redeemed themselves on Wednesday night in their game against Culpeper, beating their opponents (11-3). Senior attackman Henry Casillas (5) and Rosenberger were the two top scorers of the game, with three goals each.

Despite the final score, Rosenberger believed that the team did better in their loss than in the win.

“We played more sloppy against Culpeper,” Rosenberger said. “We had 17 turnovers. I think that if we play the way we did against Loudoun Valley later on in this season, we’ll do well.”

CORRECTION: The Editorial Staff made an to correct the JV final score to 6-4 instead of 6-2.