FAIRFAX, Va. -
George
Mason held a 5-4 halftime lead over visiting No. 17 William and Mary, but the
Tribe scored two unanswered goals in the second half to come away with a narrow
6-5 win Friday night at George Mason Stadium. Brittany Pastrana
recorded 15
saves and two caused turnovers in the Colonial Athletic Association matchup.
Mason (3-8, 0-2 CAA) divided its five goals amongst five
different Patriots in the first half. William and Mary (6-4, 1-0 CAA) got on
board first on an unassisted Maggie Anderson tally to put the Tribe up 1-0 with
27:28 to play. Kara Bowman
answered for Mason, evening the score at 1-all at
the 23:01 mark before Grace Golden returned the lead to the Tribe with a score
30 seconds later. Sophomores Allie Hilderbrandt
and Caitlin Formato
combined to
give Mason a 3-2 lead with goals less than a minute apart, but the pace slowed
down for the final 20 minutes of the frame with both teams scoring twice as the
Patriots headed into intermission with a 5-4 advantage.
In the second half, the teams combined for only 11 shots in
the frame. William and Mary converted two of nine shots for the win as Pastrana
picked up four saves in the period. After winning eight of 10 draws in the
first half, Mason was 0-3 in the second. Jenny Michael evened the score at 5-5
off an assist from Ashley Holofcener at the 26:11 mark for the Tribe before
Kyrstin Mackrides scored the eventual game-winning goal at 22:16. With just
over six minutes to play, William and Mary began to run the clock down holding
possession until Pastrana intercepted a Caitlin Murphy pass with 41 seconds to
play. Mason called a timeout, but immediately turned the ball over returning
possession to the Tribe for the final 27 seconds.
William and Mary outshot Mason 30-10 in the game, but the
Patriots won the draw control battle 8-5. Both goalkeepers went the distance in
cage with Tribe goalkeeper Emily Geary recording three saves to Pastrana's 15.
Pastrana led the Patriots with two caused turnovers, while Anna Kopecka
and
Chelsea Gamble
each won a team-high two draws. Gamble was also credited with
four ground balls.
Kyrstin Mackrides
paced the offense for the Tribe with two goals. Denise Lenihan recorded six
ground balls and Golden had three caused turnovers.
The Patriots return to CAA play traveling to Old Dominion on
Sunday, April 10 for a 1 p.m. meeting.
