Oct. 9, 2010

Box Score

Fairfax, Va. - The George Mason men's soccer team surrendered a goal in the first five minutes and another in the last 15, making a Mason goal in the final two minutes moot as the Patriots were unable to pick up their first Colonial Athletic Association win of the season on Saturday night, falling to William & Mary, 2-1. The Patriots have now lost a season-high three straight games while the Tribe is unbeaten in its past four contests.

The Tribe (7-2-1, 3-1-1) scored the only goal it needed in the fifth minute when Nathaniel Baako crossed from the left wing to Alan Koger who headed the ball into the left corner of the net. Mason's first strong scoring opportunity came in the 11th minute when Parker Walton crossed to Taylor Morgan at the near post but his point-blank shot was smothered by Andrew McAdams and a Tribe defender cleared the rebound before it could cross the goal line. McAdams stopped two more Morgan shots in the first half, the first in the 19th minute, the second in the 29th minute.

William & Mary, meanwhile, nearly made it 2-0 in the 25th minute when Alan Koger got a shot off from 15 yards that Mark Bixler charged on, tipped, and the ball was cleared just shy of the left post by Eric Zuehsow to keep it a one-goal game.

Things looked up for the Patriots in the 73rd minute when the whistle blew for a foul on William & Mary in the box, but the referee and linesman conferred and ruled the ball had been out of bounds prior to the foul. The equalizer never came, though, as William & Mary made it 2-0 in the 75th minute when Ben Anderson got to a ball that the Tribe dumped into the attacking third and he beat Bixler 1v1 to ice the game.

Mason got on the board in the 79th minute when Cooper Barham sent a ball into the box and Ernesto Marquez found it on the left wing and put it far post to make it 2-1. The Patriots (4-5-1, 0-3-1) return to action on Wednesday when they play at Towson at 3 p.m.