April 6, 2008

Box Score

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - On a wet and muddy Sunday afternoon at Albert-Daly Field in Williamsburg, Va., No. 9 George Mason (8-2, 1-1 CAA) had its school-record seven-game winning streak snapped by William and Mary (5-6, 2-0 CAA), falling 13-8 to the Tribe, who have now won four straight, including three victories over ranked opponents.

Despite the loss, the Patriots have enjoyed the finest start to a season in the 15-year history of the program through the first 10 games. No other Patriot squad has ever started the season with an 8-2 record. The previous best was a 7-3 mark that the 2001 team achieved on its way to a final ranking of 18th in the IWLCA Poll. Before today's game, Mason had not lost in more than a month, with the team's only other loss of the season coming on Feb. 27 at then-No. 9 Georgetown.

The winning streak began on March 1 when Mason defeated in-state rival Virginia Tech and has included wins over George Washington, Iona College, then-No. 18 Boston University, Saint Joseph's, American and conference rival Old Dominion. The Patriots earned their highest-ranking in school history earlier this week with a No. 9 ranking in both the IWLCA/Under Armour Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Until this week, the highest the Patriots had ever been ranked in a poll was 11th.

The day began well for the Patriots, who got on the board first when senior attacker Laura King scored a goal at the 29:33 mark of the first period. Freshman attacker Madalyn Jamison assisted on the goal. After Mason took the lead; however, William and Mary answered with three consecutive goals. Junior Julia Martin scored once and senior Jaime Sellers scored twice to give the Tribe a 3-1 advantage.

King countered with her second goal of the contest at the 21:07 mark to cut the deficit to one. However, each time the Patriots scored a goal, it seemed William and Mary came back with a pair of its own. After the Tribe scored the next two goals to take a 5-2 lead, freshman midfielder Chelsea Gamble cut the deficit to two when she spun around the back of the net and fired a shot past freshman goalkeeper Emily Geary that hit the post and caromed into the back of the net with 14:51 remaining in the period. Once again, though, William and Mary scored two goals of its own to open up a 7-3 advantage. Each team tacked on another goal and the first 30 minutes of play ended with the Patriots trailing 8-4.

After nearly six full minutes of scoreless play to begin the second half, the Tribe scored the first goal of the second 30-minute stanza off of a free-position shot by Grace Golden to take a 9-4 lead. William and Mary tacked on four more goals to make it a 5-0 run to open the second half and a 6-0 run dating back to the final score of the first half. Meanwhile, the Tribe defense held Mason scoreless for the first 18:21 of the second half and a total of 24:09 extending back to sophomore attacker Megan Udovich's goal with 5:48 remaining in the first half.

Mason closed the second half with some staunch defense of its own, holding William and Mary scoreless for the final 11:39. Trailing 13-4, King broke the Patriots' scoring drought with a goal at the 11:03 mark to cut the deficit to eight. George Mason made a valiant effort at a comeback, scoring three more goals, including another tally by King, but it wasn't enough as the Patriots fell by a final score of 13-8.

King had an outstanding all-around game in a losing effort, scoring a team-high four goals on eight shots with three ground balls, two caused turnovers and a career-high five draw controls. Sophomore goalkeeper Sara Longobucco stopped 13 shots on the day.

Freshman Maggie Anderson paced the Tribe with four goals, five ground balls and three caused turnovers. Sellers chipped in three scores for William and Mary. Geary had a fine day between the pipes, recording 11 saves.

George Mason will attempt to begin another winning streak when it hits the road for its next game, traveling to Towson, Md. to take on the Towson Tigers on Friday, April 11 at 6 p.m.