April 13, 2006
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - George Mason's women's lacrosse team hit the road on Wednesday evening for the first of five consecutive road games to close out the regular season, taking on the No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers at Klockner Field in Charlottesville, Va. After falling behind in the first period, the Patriots put up a valiant effort in the second period, before falling by a final score of 13-9.
George Mason falls to 7-5 after the loss, while Virginia improves to 12-2 with the win, their sixth consecutive victory.
Virginia got off to a fast start on the offensive end, scoring the first five goals of the game to jump out to an early lead on Mason. Junior attacker Melissa Venturi found the back of the net at the 22:24 mark of the first period to put the Patriots on the board and cut the deficit to four goals. The Cavaliers answered back; however, scoring four unanswered goals to go up 9-1. The Cavaliers tacked on another goal and sophomore Laura King scored twice before the end of the period as Mason entered the half trailing 10-3.
The Patriots got off to a fast start in the second period with Venturi scoring three goals, two coming within 44 seconds, to cut the deficit to 10-6. Mason's defense stepped its intensity up a notch as well, holding Virginia scoreless for the first 13:52 of the period. Senior Nikki Lieb broke the drought with a goal at the 16:08 mark to put the Cavaliers back up by five. Virginia then scored two more times to run the lead up to seven before Mason answered back with three goals of its own to cut the deficit back down to four. With the Patriots seemingly gaining momentum, Lieb won the final draw of the game and the Cavaliers ran out the clock.
Venturi led all players with four goals in the game, while King added three. Senior Sarah Bryant and junior Jess Shelton also found the back of the net for the Patriots. Freshman Bonnie Nelson entered the game in relief of starter Roxie Alsruhe at goalkeeper and had a strong outing, with six saves in 41:50.
Mason scooped up nine more ground balls than Virginia in the game, and caused three more turnovers, but allowed the Cavaliers to tally 21 draw controls against only three for the Patriots. The 21 draw controls tied a school record for Virginia.
The Patriots are back in action on Friday, facing the Fighting Blue Hens of Delaware in a Colonial Athletic Association matchup at 7 p.m. Delaware, with a 4-9 overall record, enters the game fresh off a 15-14 upset of No. 18 Penn State on Wednesday.
