Aug. 13, 2008

The George Mason women's soccer team will open the season on Aug. 23 when the Patriots travel across the river to take on area rival Maryland in a night-game in College Park, Md. The Patriots were 8-10-1 last year and advanced to the CAA Tournament. Mason was picked to finish sixth in the CAA this year. The Terrapins were 6-9-3 last year and failed to make the ACC Tournament. They are picked to finish eighth this year.

The trip to Maryland is one of three road games to start the season for the Patriots as Mason will travel over Labor Day Weekend to play at UNC Greensboro and Virginia Tech. After those three straight road games, the Patriots will play four straight home games. Mason will host Hartford and Mississippi State in the Mason Tournament which will also feature Georgetown. The home opener, on Friday, Sept. 5, will be at 5:30 p.m. The match on Sunday, Sept. 7 against Mississippi State will be at 11 a.m.

Mason will follow the tournament with home games against Indiana and Howard. The final non-conference match will be on Saturday, Sept. 20, when the Patriots play at Longwood.

Colonial Athletic Association action will begin on Sept. 26 with the Patriots playing at James Madison, the team that ended Mason's 2007 campaign. The first home CAA game will be on Sunday, Sept. 28 against VCU. Mason will also take on Georgia State, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion and William & Mary at home while traveling to Hofstra, Northeastern, Drexel, Delaware and Towson. The game at Towson will be the regular-season finale. That will be played on Thursday, Oct. 30. Senior Day will be against the Monarchs on Sunday, Oct. 26.

The CAA Tournament will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 4 with the sixth seed at the third seed and the fifth seed at the fourth seed. The top two seeds will earn first-round byes. On Friday, Nov. 7, the top seed will host the semifinals with the championship to be decided on Sunday, Nov. 9.

William & Mary was picked by the CAA coaches to win the conference title in a preseason poll with James Madison finishing a close second. Hofstra was right on their heels in third. Selected a distant fourth was VCU, followed by UNC Wilmington and the Patriots. Delaware, Old Dominion, Northeastern, Georgia State, Towson and Drexel filled out the poll, respectively.