Sept. 17, 2009
The George Mason women's soccer team will host the George Mason Tournament this weekend as the Patriots welcome Cornell, Long Island and William & Mary to Fairfax. The tournament will begin with William & Mary taking on Cornell at 5 p.m. on Friday followed by the Patriots taking on Long Island at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, Long Island and William & Mary will square off at Noon with Mason taking on Cornell at 2:30 p.m.
Long Island comes to Fairfax with a 4-1 record and ranked ninth in the Northeast by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). The Patriots are 5-1 and ranked seventh in the Mid-Atlantic. Mason is 2-0 at home while Long Island is 1-1 on the road. The Patriots began this week with the fifth-ranked scoring offense in the nation, averaging 4.17 goals per game. A trio of Mason players are among the nation's top 75 in points, goals and assists.
Omolyn Davis, who has scored in every match in which she's played, is eighth in the nation in goals per game and ninth in points per game. Mason's lone loss came when she was on the bench, sitting out with an injury. Kelly Keelan is 10th in the nation in assists per game, 29th in points per game and 72nd in goals per game. Freshman Tiana Kallenberger is 54th in the country in points per game, 70th in assists and 72nd in goals.
While Mason has the offense, Long Island has the defense. The Blackbirds are eighth in the country in goals-against average having allowed just one in five contests. Freshman goal keeper Jennifer Bannon is allowing 0.195 goals per game and she has a .947 save percentage. Kayleigh Morgan has scored twice this year for Long Island while four others have one goal and an additional four have an assist.
The first game will pit William & Mary, which was nationally ranked a week ago, against Cornell, which is coming off its first win of the year. The Tribe are 4-2-0 and ranked second in the Mid-Atlantic. Last week Soccer America had William & Mary ranked 22nd in the country before a home loss to UC Santa Barbara. The Tribe moved into the rankings after beating a pair of nationally ranked teams on the road, BYU and Utah. Erin Liberatore has three goals, Kellie Jenkins has two goals and Krissy Vornadore has three assists. Grace Barnard has 26 saves while having allowed seven goals.
After opening the season with a 0-0 tie with Binghamton, the Big Red lost three straight to Niagara, Lehigh and Manhattan. Cornell, which is coached by former Mason assistant Danielle LaRoche, got its first win on Tuesday against Colgate, a 2-0 victory. Cornell's first two goals came from Sidra Bonner with Maneesha Chitanvis and Hannah Labadie scoring in this week's win.
