Sept. 23, 2009
The George Mason women's soccer team is off to its best start in more than 15 years and the Patriots have their first five-game winning streak in more than a decade. But despite being 8-1 and ranked seventh in the Mid-Atlantic, the Patriots enter Thursday night's Colonial Athletic Association opener hungry for more. That's because their opponent at George Mason Stadium will be James Madison. The Patriots and Dukes clash at 7 p.m. Last year, Mason beat JMU 2-1 in Harrisonburg before the Dukes went on to win the CAA title.
The Dukes were picked to win the CAA this year in the preseason poll of the league's head coaches. They went to the Sweet Sixteen last year, beating Georgia and Wake Forest 1-0 before losing to third-ranked Portland, 3-2. This season, James Madison is off to a 4-4 start with a 1-3 mark on the road. The Dukes lost at Georgetown, 4-0, at #18 Maryland, 1-0 and at Penn State, 2-0. They took a 3-1 win at Navy.
The Dukes have gotten eight goals from Corky Julien in eight games. Teresa Rynier has handed out six assists. Cate Tisinger has two goals and three assists. Diane Wszalek has one shutout in goal and has allowed 12 balls in the net on 49 shots. James Madison is ranked fourth in the Mid-Atlantic.
Mason has won its last five contests by scores of 3-1 (UC Santa Barbara), 8-1 (Coastal Carolina), 1-0 (Long Island), 2-0 (Cornell) and 4-0 (UMBC). The Patriots have a scoreless streak of 294 minutes, 4 seconds. That's the longest streak since a 324:55 stretch in 2007. The five straight wins are the most since 1998 when Mason beat Fresno State, VCU, George Washington, UNC Greensboro, East Carolina and UNCW as part of a 6-1 start.
The Patriots have gotten terrific play out of their backline and in net. Mason has allowed just five goals all season and more than one in a game just once, the season's lone loss. That 3-1 defeat came at Penn when Mason was playing without Omolyn Davis. The redshirt junior has six goals and three assists and has had a point in all but one of the games in which she's played. Freshman Tiana Kallenberger has seven goals and four assists and her four game-winning goals are fourth-most in school history among freshmen. Kelly Keelan has four goals and six assists while Theresa DeLucca and Annie Lebherz each had three goals. Kallenberger and goalie Katie Frey have each been a CAA Rookie of the Week.
