With four freshmen, five sophomores, five juniors and only one senior, the West Potomac Girls Soccer team may be young, but that didn't stop them from dominating their season opener Monday evening.
With six minutes left in the first half, defender Zoe Slobodin knocked in a header which stood up in a 1-0 win over Mount Vernon.
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.
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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.
“I just saw the ball coming and got my head into it,” Slobodin said.
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Coach Tony Garza calmed his team down and told the girls it was time to get serious.
“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.”
West Potomac changed its alignment to a 3-5-2 in order to stop Mount Vernon’s offensive attack at midfield, essentially going into a defensive shell to try and protect the lead.
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 playing five in the midfield and they were only playing four, so having an extra player in there helped us a lot,” Hubbard said. “We definitely would have loved to get a second goal and had some opportunities, but we couldn’t get it in.”
Hubbard added this was his best preseason yet, the girls have worked hard and he has high expectations this season.
“We are looking to be competitive in our district, and winning a district tournament game is a goal of ours.”
West Potomac plays at Edison at 7 p.m. on March 18.
