Sept. 26, 2008

Box Score

Harrisonburg, Va. - When the George Mason women's soccer team boarded the bus on Friday afternoon heading to Harrisonburg, the Patriots were a team still looking to put forth its best effort on the field. Despite a pair of 1-0 victories earlier in the season and a 9-1 shellacking of Howard last week, the Patriots had yet to have a total team effort on the pitch. That changed on Friday night when Mason stunned James Madison, beating the Dukes, 2-1, snapping their 19-match unbeaten streak at home.

The Dukes were picked to finish second in the preseason poll of Colonial Athletic Association coaches, receiving four of 12 first-place votes. Mason was picked to finish sixth. The Dukes came into the match ranked fifth in the Mid-Atlantic while also receiving votes in the NSCAA/adidas National Top 25. It was hard to tell which squad was receiving the national attention on Friday night as the teams battled on a wet pitch. Junior Kelly Keelan played all 90 minutes in goal for Mason and still managed to score in the contest and sophomore Kimmy Moss added the game-winner in the second half to give Mason (4-5-0, 1-0-0) the victory in the CAA opener for both teams.

"We finally came together as a team and played for and with each other," said Mason head coach Diane Drake. "It was a superb effort and I am very proud of this group."

James Madison took control of the game early with a goal in the third minute as Ashley Flateland scored on a header at the far post off a Teresa Rynier corner kick. The game stayed 1-0 until the end of the first half when Mason took advantage of a free kick opportunity. Keelan came out of net and crossed nearly the entire pitch to take the free kick from 25 yards out. The shot hit the crossbar at the far post and dropped in to make it 1-1. It was Keelan's sixth goal of the year.

In the 60th minute, Moss scored on a header off a free kick taken by Jessica Paris. It was Moss' second game-winning goal of the year and Paris' sixth assist of the season. Diane Wsalek took the loss in net for James Madison (4-3-2, 0-1-0) stopping just two of four shots. Keelan stopped five of six shots for her third win of the year in net. It was Mason's first home win of the year.

Mason will return to the pitch on Sunday when the Patriots host VCU (4-4-1, 0-0-1) at 3 p.m.