Rachel Sweeney (May 6, 2005)

The Lady Mustangs face only a few more games before the end of the regular season, hoping to head into district tournaments and more. The past few games have proven to be encouraging to the girls and their coaches.

On April 11, the girls took on the Central Highlanders at home. The girls won by 5 the last time they played Central, however the Highlanders showed much improvement and determination to beat the Mustangs the second time around. However, Mason put up a strong fight and came out with a 2-0 win.

Later, on April 19, Manassas Park played at Moore Cadillac Stadium. While showing an improvement from previous years, the ladies pulled off a 9-0 win.

The home game against JEB Stuart, a AAA team on April 20, was a learning experience and more than that a wake up call for the team. After lacking competitiveness in their own district, the team looked to travel outside their boundaries in hopes to challenge themselves in preparation for upcoming games. Losing 4-0, the Raiders reinforced the necessity of teamwork amongst the Lady Mustangs. Goalie Alex Pender blocked many attempts made by Stuart despite being unable to foil four attacks. The previously mentioned concept of teamwork made itself known when the girls played Madison County at home. The cancellation of the April 22 game against Clarke was welcomed as the team members sustained injuries, placing four starters on the bench. These four players were Roxanne Sweeney, Emily Sabbatini, Hayley Wood, and Katie Turner. Sabbatini has been diagnosed with stress fractures and will be unable to play for the remainder of the season, while Sweeney and Wood suffered similar ankle injures but hope to return to the field soon. The April 26 Madison game forced coach Cliff Carroll, Bob Penland and Steph Hulke to move up two JV players to help the defense. The girls were happy to win 6-1 with the injuries, playing one of their best matches of the season.

The Lady Mustangs stretch and try to pay attention to Coach Cliff Carroll as he goes over the game plane  with his winning team.

On April 29, it became even more apparent after the Madison game that the girls were improving more as a team. They took on Rappahannock at home, still with the two new additions from JV, and warmly welcomed back Turner who was cleared to play. Turner’s return was greatly appreciated when she added a goal, alongside freshman Caroline Pender with 2. With a 5-0 win, the ladies look forward to more practice with better teams as they take on Wakefield (AAA) on Monday and rival Clarke County on the rescheduled date this Thursday.