Oct. 30, 2009
The George Mason women's soccer team will take the pitch at George Mason Stadium on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. against Towson in the regular-season finale for both schools. And while Towson will see its season come to an end regardless of the result, Mason will do its best to beat the Tigers, and then spend some time watching the scoreboard. That's because the Patriots enter the match tied for fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association with the top four seeds making the CAA Tournament.
Mason is currently tied with James Madison for the final spot but the Dukes hold the tiebreaker as they won the head-to-head meeting between the teams. So the Patriots need to win with a JMU loss or tie at VCU, or tie with a JMU loss at VCU.
Mason (13-4-2, 5-3-2) will also be looking to accomplish something that has only been done three times in the history of the CAA - improve by nine wins from one season to the next. The Patriots were 5-13-1 last season and a win would tie William & Mary, Northeastern and Hofstra for the single largest turnarounds in conference history. All three of the aforementioned schools improved by nine wins earlier this decade.
Hofstra and Northeastern will battle this weekend with the winner hosting the CAA Tournament and the other school finishing as the two seed. Currently in third is UNC Wilmington and if the Patriots tie the Seahawks for third, Mason wins the tiebreaker. However, if Mason, JMU and UNCW all tie, then the Patriots will miss out on the postseason while the other two teams advance.
The Patriots have been led by Player of the Year candidate Omolyn Davis and Rookie of the Year candidate Tiana Kallenberger. Davis has 10 goals and six assists while Kallenberger has nine goals and eight assists. They are tied for the team lead with 26 points. Katie Frey, also a freshman, has seven solo shutouts and she and Alex Bodenschatz and Melissa Mailley have combined for 10 total shutouts, only the sixth time in school history Mason has double figures in shutouts. In fact, Mason's 14 goals allowed are second-fewest in school history trailing just the 11 goals allowed in 1994, when Mason advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Towson (7-10-2, 3-6-1) has been led by Erica Marshall, who has nine goals and three assists. No other player has more than four goals. Kristen Sample and Jocelyn Papciak have each started nine games in goal. Papciak has been the starter of late with a 1.56 goals-against average and a 74.6 save percentage.
Prior to the match, Mason will honor its nine seniors, Patti Benner, Leslie Cabe, Theresa DeLucca, Jessie Hart, Kelly Keelan, Colleen Killiany, Annie Lebherz, Hannah Sklar and Sasha Vido.
