Nov. 1, 2004

FAIRFAX, Va. -- George Mason will be the No. 5 seed for the Colonial Athletic Association Women's Soccer Championship and will travel to Harrisonburg, Va. to face host and fourth-seeded James Madison Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a first-round tournament game.

Tickets for the match, which will be played at the JMU Soccer/Lacrosse Complex, are $5 for adults between the ages of 18 and 62, and $3 for youths under 18 and seniors over 62. Students with valid ID are allowed in for free.

William and Mary, JMU and George Mason tied for third place in the league race with identical 5-2-2 records. In head-to-head competition among the three teams, William and Mary had a 1-0-1 record, JMU recorded a 0-0-2 record and George Mason posted a 0-1-1 record. So, William and Mary is seeded third and will host No. 6 seed Old Dominion (5-3-1 CAA) Tuesday, while JMU is seeded fourth and will host the fifth-seeded Patriots. Both Mason and JMU finished the regular season with 10-6-3 overall marks.

Virginia Commonwealth and Hofstra tied for first place in the final league standings with 6-3 records. VCU received the top seed as a result of its regular-season win over Hofstra. Both teams receive first-round byes and VCU will host the tournament semifinals and final on Nov. 5 & 7.

In Friday's semifinals at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Va., VCU will meet the JMU/Mason winner at 5:30 p.m., followed by Hofstra versus the W&M/ODU winner at 8 p.m. The CAA championship game will be played at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 7.

Mason was placed in a similar position last season as the No. 6 seed. The Patriots upset third-seeded Delaware, 2-1, in Newark, Del., in first round action, but tied VCU 0-0 in the semifinals. The Rams advanced to the CAA title game 4-3 on penalty kicks.