DAYTON, Ohio – Playing its first-ever Atlantic 10 Conference contest, the George Mason women's soccer team dropped a hard-fought 3-0 decision at Dayton Friday night.

A strong Flyers (7-4,-1, 2-0-0 A-10) defense held Mason (3-7-1, 0-1-0 A-10) to five shots on the night as Mason put three of those on goal. Emma Starr, Jazmin Cardoso and Hollie Byer each tried to find the back of the net for the Patriots. Lyndse Hokanson and Briana Kottler split time in net, recording six saves combined, five coming in the first half. Dayton recorded its fourth consecutive shutout as goalkeeper Elizabeth James scooped up three saves to pick up the win.

Dayton came out strong, putting two shots on goal and hitting the crossbar within the first six minutes of play. Four minutes later the home squad took a 1-0 lead using a Stephanie Emery goal from 18-yards out on the far post. Mason's Starr tried to even the match in the 14^th minute, but James was able to make the stop to keep the Flyers ahead. Megan Herr gave Dayton a 2-0 lead it carried into intermission with a tally in the 22^nd minute. Mason saw two scoring opportunities to close out the half when Cardoso forced James into her second save of the period in the 37^th minute and Karina Irizarry blasted a shot high with less than five minutes left in the half.

Mason immediately opened the second half with a corner kick, but was soon called for an offside as the teams played a back-and-forth affair until Dayton extended its lead to 3-0 in the 87^th minute on a Juliana Libertin goal. Byer got two shots off in the final minutes of play and looked to cut the score with seven seconds left on the clock, but James scooped up the attempt to account for the final 3-0 score.