Box Score FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's soccer team held a pair of one-goal leads on Sunday, but finished the regular season with its first tie, a 2-2 double-overtime draw against Fordham at George Mason Stadium on Senior Day.
Mason (12-6-1, 6-3-1 A-10) finished the season as the fourth seed in the Atlantic 10 with 19 points. The Patriots will face No. 5 Fordham in the quarterfinal round of the A-10 Women's Soccer Championship on Thursday at Rhode Island's Soccer Complex in Kingston, R.I. with kickoff scheduled for 8 p.m.
Fordham (10-4-5, 5-1-3 A-10) also had 19 points in conference play, but Mason won the tiebreaker based on head-to-head results with common conference opponents to earn the higher seed.
"It was a great battle between two evenly matched teams," Mason head coach Todd Bramble said. "It comes down to execution and small details. At this point in the season set plays become a lot more important."
The Patriots took a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute on Sunday. Junior Abby Downey blasted a shot from 35 yards out, finding the upper right corner of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
The Patriots held opponents scoreless in the first half in 14 of their 19 games this season.
Mason held the advantage until the 56th minute, when Fordham sophomore Brooke Salmon collected a rebound inside the box and scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season to tie the game at one.
The Patriots regained the lead just 14 minutes later. Junior Erin Mitchell found open space and sent a cross from the left side to senior Alex Myers, who scored her fifth goal of the season, blistering a shot under the crossbar into the top left corner from 20 yards out to make the score 2-1.
"The players can draw confidence knowing they can create scoring chances against this team," Bramble said. "It will just be a matter of finishing those chances on Thursday when it's tournament time."
Fordham had allowed one goal or less in each of its last nine matches.
The Rams netted the equalizer in the 87th minute when freshman Amanda Miller raced past the Mason defense and found the back of the net from close range to even the score at 2-2.
It was the fourth overtime game of the season for the Patriots, while the Rams have gone to overtime five times in their last 10 matches.
Mason outshot Fordham 15-14, including a 7-1 advantage in overtime. Each team finished the game with five shots on goal. Senior Kirsten Glad (12-6-1, 6-3-1 A-10) made three saves.
The team's eight seniors were recognized in a ceremony before the game.
"All of our seniors played in the game and Alex scored a great goal in her last home appearance," Bramble said. "The fans get a chance to see what the players do on game days, but they do so much more for us behind the scenes and in the classroom. It's a group that I'm really proud of and that I'm really going to miss."
The Patriot's finished the regular season with a 7-3-1 record at George Mason Stadium. The seven home wins are the most for Mason since the 2011 season and tied for the fifth-most at home in program history.
Mason's 12 victories this season are the most for the program since the Patriots finished with a 14-4-1 record in 2009.
Last season, the Patriots clinched a berth in the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a 1-1 draw against the Rams on the final day of the 2015 season.
The two teams will now meet in the A-10 tournament for the second straight year. Mason took a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute in the second round against the Rams in last year's Atlantic 10 Championship when Sarah Hardison scored. Fordham tied the game in the 59th minute and neither team was able to find the back of the net in overtime.
The Rams went on to defeat the Patriots in a penalty kick shootout (4-2) to advance to the championship game.
