FAIRFAX, Va. – Daniel Hoffman and Henning Dirks assisted on each other's goals, Timi Mulgrew blasted his seventh of the season and Steffen Kraus made a season-high nine saves as Mason shutout UMBC 3-0 on Saturday evening.
"Some terrific finishing by the guys tonight. Each goal was worthy of praise. Timi hit his with such certainty , that one was truly remarkable," commented head coach Greg Andrulis.
The Patriots improve to 4-0 at home this season and 7-0-1 overall. UMBC drops its second consecutive contests and dips to 3-4-2 with the loss. Mason extends its home unbeaten streak to 13 games after avenging its 1-0 loss to the Retrievers last season.
Both squads played up and down the field in the first half with chances for either side as UMBC outshot the Patriots 7-6 in the frame. It was Mason however that was able to get on the board first in the 13th minute by a strong effort from Daniel Hoffman. After intercepting a UMBC pass, Hoffman delivered the ball to Dirks who ran into the left side of the box and crossed a ball back to Hoffman, who then connected and scored from the right side of the net for his first goal of the season.
Kraus was forced to make five of his nine saves in the first period of play, two of which came back-to-back off a set piece from the Retrievers in the 10th minute. After a Mason foul, Geaton Caltanbiano delivered a strike from 20 yards out that went in and out of the hands of Kraus, providing a rebound attempt for Stephen Ho that was also turned away. UMBC would put three more on goal in the first half, moving Kraus around the net.
"We dodged some bulletts early from a very good attacking team in UMBC," continued Andrulis. "Once we got on top we were able to settle in a play a bit smarter and got more comfortable as the game wore on. Steffen and our back four were very good again but the contribution of Jannik (Eckenrode) and (Ahmed) Ismail cannot be overlooked."
The Patriots came out with energy in the second half, scoring its second goal of the game in the 51st minute, Dirks' fourth of the season. Hoffman gained control of the ball at midfield and delivered a perfect ball to Dirks at the top of the box where he was able to take it the rest of the way and put it in between the legs of keeper Phil Breno. The Patriots ended the contest with 10 shots to UMBC's 13 while Breno ended with three saves.
The game seemed to be put away in the 67th minute when Timi Mulgrew gathered a ball near the top right corner of the box, bending it perfectly to deflect off the top left corner of the goal to give Mason the 3-0 advantage unassisted, his team-leading seventh goal of the season. Kraus made several more saves in the second half to send Mason to its seventh shutout in eight games this season and five consecutive games in which the Green and Gold have held their opponent scoreless. The school record for consecutive shutouts is nine, set during the 1980-81 season.
Up next for Mason is a trip to Annapolis, Md. for a 7 p.m. matchup on Tuesday, September 30 against Navy.
