April 20, 2007

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. - After falling behind by five goals to begin the game, the George Mason women's lacrosse team (6-8, 1-4 CAA) rallied to defeat the William and Mary Tribe (2-12, 0-5 CAA) by a final score of 10-8 to earn the team's first Colonial Athletic Association victory of the season on Friday evening at George Mason Stadium.

Things looked bleak early on for the Patriots as the Tribe scored five goals within the first seven minutes of play to build an early 5-0 lead. Mason scored its first goal of the game with 16:28 remaining in the first period when senior attacker Melissa Venturi passed to a streaking Laura King, whose shot found the back of the net past the outstretched arms of Tribe goalkeeper Sara Beckstead.

William and Mary answered back; however, when junior Jaime Sellers scored her second goal of the game off a free-position shot with 14:17 left in the first period to push the lead back to five. Sophomore attacker Brittany Berger, who led the Patriots with four points in the game, cut the deficit to 6-2 when she scored with 9:02 remaining.

The Tribe scored the next two goals to build their largest lead of the game, 8-2. Senior Emily Vitrano scored at the 8:54 mark and Sellers scored her third and final goal of the game with 6:19 remaining in the period off a free-position shot. It would be the last goal the Tribe would score as the Patriots' stifling defense, which ranks fifth in the country in caused turnovers with an average of 11.08 per contest, took over the game, holding William and Mary scoreless for the final 36:18 of the contest, including the entire second period.

As the Patriots' defense turned up the pressure on the William and Mary offense, George Mason's offensive attack began to show signs of life following a slow start. The Patriots scored three times in the final 5:22 of the first period to enter the half trailing by three goals, 8-5. Freshman midfielder Kelly Davis, a three-time CAA Rookie of the Week, scored two of those three goals to close out the period.

George Mason dominated the second period, allowing the Tribe to take only five shots in the entire 30 minutes of play. Each of those five shots were turned away by freshman goalkeeper Sara Longobucco, who had an outstanding evening in the net, finishing with 13 saves. While Longobucco shut out the Tribe offense in the second period, the Patriots put five goals on the board, including two by Venturi, to close out the contest by scoring the final eight goals of the game.

It was a total team effort for Mason as Davis, Berger and Venturi all scored two goals. Three Patriots - redshirt senior defender Katie Linnertz, redshirt junior midfielder Alex Velesz and Berger - all caused three turnovers in the game. Linnertz led the team with five ground balls.

William and Mary was led by Sellers' three goals. Senior Kristen Wong caused three turnovers and freshman goalkeeper Sara Beckstead tallied eight saves and six ground balls in a losing effort.

George Mason plays again on Sunday, April 22 at Old Dominion in a 1 p.m. Colonial Athletic Association game at Foreman Field in Norfolk, Va. The Monarchs are currently 5-7 and 2-3 in CAA action. Sunday's contest will be the Patriots' fifth game in 10 days.