Oct. 24, 2010

Box Score

Philadelphia, Pa. - With the 2010 season on the verge of slipping away, the two best players on the George Mason's women's soccer team stepped up and kept the postseason hopes alive.

Late in the second overtime, Omolyn Davis connected with Tiana Kallenberger and the sophomore put the ball in the back of the net to lift the Patriots over Drexel, 1-0. The victory, coupled with Georgia State's loss at Northeastern, puts the Patriots in control of their own destiny. If Mason wins or ties on Friday at Towson, the Patriots will make the CAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 and just the second time since 2004.

"The team really deserved this win," said Mason head coach Diane Drake. "We have struggled for awhile now when it comes to finishing and we broke that pattern today. With so much at stake, we have been panicking and not holding our composure. We've had so many chances we haven't finished so it was nice to see that not happen today when it really mattered. All game long we kept saying we needed to be patient and it would pay off and it finally did."

The overtime goal came on a counter when Kimmy Moss dug a ball out, penetrated more than 40 yards and slipped the ball to Davis. Davis cut in with the ball and passed it on to Kallenberger who put the ball in from about 10 yards out. The victory also gave Mason (10-7-1, 6-4 CAA) back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 1997-98.

"TK buried another late CAA overtime goal for us and kept us alive," said Drake. "Proud doesn't quite cover how I feel about the girls today. It took a lot of spirit to win today, especially as banged up as we are. Now we just need to focus on Friday's match and finish what we set out to do when the season began."

Mason had a 26-12 edge in shots and a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal. Drexel (7-10-1, 3-6-1 CAA) committed 19 fouls to Mason's 13 while the Patriots had 15 corner kicks to the Dragons' five. Davis leads Mason with seven goals, nine assists and 23 points while Kallenberger is second in each category with five goals, five assists and 15 points.

The Patriots will be either the third seed or fourth seed in the CAA Tournament if they beat or tie Towson when they play at 2 p.m. on Friday. If they are the third seed, they will play James Madison in the opening round of the CAA Tournament, which will be hosted by Hofstra. If they are the fourth seed, they will play the Pride. The Patriots can still get into the tournament with a loss if UNCW beats or ties Georgia State and Old Dominion beats or ties William & Mary. You can follow all of Friday's action against Towson with a live blog on GoMason.com