Radford girls fall short against George Mason in soccer semifinal 

>The unspoken mantra ringing in the ears of players on both sides late in the Radford-George Mason VHSL Group A girls soccer semifinal played at Salem's Spartan Field on Saturday afternoon was "one more."

For Radford, "one more" meant wishing for another goal, as the Bobcats desperately tried to erase Mason's 2-1 lead late in the game, but to no avail.

For the Mustangs, five-time defending state champions and seven-time winners since 2002, "one more" referenced their quest to continue their championship domination.

The Mustangs prevailed Saturday - thanks to two strong goals from power forward Claire Trevisan, one in each half. They were the junior's 24th and 25th goals of the season.

George Mason will play the James River-Stuarts Draft winner today at noon at Radford University for the state title.

"'Make your goal-scoring opportunities dangerous,' that's what we talked about at halftime," said Mason coach Jennifer Parsons, who described her squad as "a very different team from past years; we've got nine freshmen. We pulled [Saturday's win] out."

Mason dominated the second half, keeping the ball on Radford's side of the field most of the 40 minutes. Mason senior forward Araba Ankuma narrowly missed a goal when her boot bounced off the right post.

Radford struck first when Bobcat senior forward Lexi Denny, who will be playing for Radford University next season, scored in the 20th minute on an assist from sophomore Jada Penn.

"I thought we might have a chance scoring first," said second-year Bobcats coach Darryl Gillespie. "Lexi scored the way she does most of her goals. She willed it in, fought hard, used her body and finished."

But Trevisan tied it a minute and a half later on an assist from freshman Annie Washa.

Trevisan's game-winning goal midway in the second half was a missile on the right side from about 20 yards out. Radford keeper Amanda Joyce made a valiant dive but was unable to corral the shot.

Gillespie thought his team was affected psychologically by George Mason's reputation.

"We came out nervous," he said, "and we had some bad touches all game."

Temperatures didn't help either, Gillespie said.

"The weather has been cool all year, and we're not used to practicing or playing in the heat. I played a lot of players, but we just didn't move the ball the way we should have."

The Mustangs had eight corner kicks compared to Radford's two.

"We normally score a lot off corner kicks," Gillespie said, "and today we didn't get many opportunities at all."

Radford loses five seniors off this year's team, including Denny, Joyce and midfielder Lindsi Sparks, who was involved in a couple of Bobcat scoring opportunities Saturday.

Mason outshot the Bobcats 9-4.

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