Mount Vernon Girls Shutout in Opener

The Mount Vernon girls varsity soccer team had three more seniors than rival West Potomac did in the season opening game Monday night. And considering the Majors only had four, they still had much more experience on the field than did the Wolverines. 

Although the game was scoreless for more than 30 minutes, the Wolverines went on the attack with six minutes left in the first half and defender Zoe Slobodin knocked in a header that proved to be enough as West Potomac defeated Mount Vernon 1-0.

Slobodin and Olivia Watkins controlled the offensive rhythm for the Wolverines for the majority of the first half. Set in a 4-4-2 scheme, as many as eight offensive players battled downfield around the Majors 18-yard box, firing off shots from the center and wings.

Yet Alexis Lybarger remained cool and found her zone, snatching up the Wolverines attempts for more than 30 minutes. After a failed attempt off of a corner kick, West Potomac got the restart from a Mount Vernon penalty, and Watkins dribbled down the left sideline at full speed. Just inside the boundary line, she curved one over the Major defenders’ heads and Slobodin put her head on the ball and squeaked it by Lybarger for the score.

“When the cross came she said she misread it and came out right away,” Mount Vernon Coach Tony Garza said. “She has come a long way and I am very proud of the way she reacted to it.”

Haley Stromberg and Megan O’Dell were able to hold off the Wolverine offense for the remaining few minutes of the half, but their team trailed going into halftime.

“I told them ‘playtime is over’ and at the beginning of the season they like to goof around and socialize,” he said. "They kind of realized it and picked up the pace.”

In the second half, Jane Heller and Sabrina Smith were able to team up using precision passing to cross over into Wolverine territory. Smith crossed the ball over to Heller who deflected it towards the net, but Caroline Kelly played terrific in goal, and she sent away what ended up being Mount Vernon's best chance.

West Potomac went on the attack again in the final 10 minutes but O’Dell cleared everything out of the middle and left side while Stromberg took care of the right side of the field for the Majors.

“We were on offense but not connecting a lot of passes,” Smith said. “They had a lot of strong players and we have strong players to so it could have gone either way.”

Mount Vernon girls play at Lee at 7 p.m. on March 16.