This past week, the George Mason women's soccer team produced some strong defensive performances. All-American goalkeeper Jaime Pagliarulo notched her second shutout of the season in a 0-0 tie with national power Virginia, and freshman sweeper Stephanie Hancock made a big splash in her first week as a Patriot, playing hard in Mason's 2-1 victory over No. 21 UNC Greensboro.
But the standout to the team's success turned out to be 5-5 junior Lisa Berra, known as "Yogi" by her teammates and fans. In both games this week, she drew one-on-one defensive assignments against two of the most feared attackers in the nation. First, she held Virginia's leading scorer Angela Hucles in check, then she did an equally fine job in marking UNCG All-American Ali Lord. Those efforts were the culmination of steady improvements from her first two years with the Patriot program.
"She's been one of the more consistently tenacious defenders we've had," said head coach Jac Cicala on the St. Louis, MO, native. "She has come up big in neutralizing some of the top forwards in the country already this season."
Assistant coach Paul Ellis has also been impressed by Berra's development in the backfield--not only in terms stopping opponents, but reversing the momentum the other way.
"She gets better every game she plays," said Ellis. "She's become one of the best defenders in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association), and coupled with that is how she's improved in an attacking role out of the back. We ask her to do many things defensively, but no matter what the task is, she goes about it with the same enthusiasm. She does her job well."
The Patriots will need a strong defensive effort again on Wednesday if they are to keep pace with another nationally ranked team in a 4 p.m. match at George Mason. No. 7 Maryland invades Fairfax, a team Mason lost to a year ago, 2-0, in College Park, MD.