The Dawson County High School varsity girls’ soccer team was able to bounce back from its first region loss earlier this month at Greater Atlanta Christian and defeat region-foe North Hall, 3-0, on the road March 13.

The Lady Tigers then won two more games on a road trip to Chattanooga to finish an undefeated week of play.

“To be able to go on the road, go win a region game after a region loss is always huge,” said Head Coach Chess Hamby about the win at North Hall. “It’s a big bounce back.”

After a scoreless first 20 minutes of play, Dawson County’s Katie Clouse scored her first of two first half goals with 19:17 remaining in the half. The sophomore’s second goal came with just under eight minutes to go to give the Lady Tigers (7-2, 2-1 Region 7-AAA) a 2-0 lead at halftime.

The Dawson County defense was strong throughout the game, only allowing two shots on goal thanks to some great plays hustle plays by junior Mackenzie Kimbral and her defensive partners.

“We’re blessed with a lot of speed back there,” said Hamby about his defense. “So that helps us, and Mackenzie Kimbral is just a warrior. She’s a lot of fun to watch back there.

“(Kimbral) really leads us and gets us in formation. It’s always big to have somebody like that in there.”

The strong defense helped pitch the shutout while junior Rachel Rajczak added another goal for Dawson County, to go along with an earlier assist, with less than six minutes left in the game dashing any hopes of a Lady Trojan (3-5-1, 0-2 Region 7-AAA) comeback.

In the two games that followed, Dawson County first took a trip up to Chattanooga to do a little sight-seeing and team bonding while also facing a Northwest Whitfield team that was 10-1 entering their matchup with the Lady Tigers.

Goalkeeper Ashley Stanfill made eight saves and Molly Muenchen scored the game-winning goal as the Lady Tigers defeated the Bruins, 2-1, on March 15.

All three goals came in the first half with Emily Varca scoring Dawson County’s first goal in the 16th minute followed by Muenchen’s goal with less than two minutes until halftime.

Tuesday’s goal scores, Clouse and Rajczak, each had an assist against Northwest Whitfield (11-2).

The week closed with another non-region game against Darlington High (1-6) on Saturday. Muenchen had all three goals for the Lady Tigers, coupled with a two-save shutout by Stanfill, to secure the 3-0 win.

“When you’re playing non-region, you’re trying to schedule teams that are going to make you better for region play,” said Hamby about their games against Northwest Whitfield and Darlington. “So that’s the ultimate goal, and we try to set it up like a playoff situation where we’re on the road and try to get that experience before we start the playoffs.”