FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's soccer team suffered its third straight loss, falling 2-1 to Saint Joseph's on Saturday in its first home game in Atlantic 10 play.

Mason (2-7-1, 0-2-0 A-10) held the possession advantage in the early part of the first half and recorded the first five shot attempts in the game.  The Patriots outshot the Hawks 8-3 in the first half of play.

Saint Joseph's (6-5-1, 3-0-0 A-10) took the lead in the 23rd minute when senior Mori Diane scored his second goal of the season to put the Hawks up 1-0.  Diane found his way into the box and scored into the lower left corner from six yards out.  He accounted for three of the Hawks five shots on goal in the game.

Senior Cullen Hunter, appearing in his third game of the season, netted the equalizer for the Patriots on a header in the 31st minute to make the score 1-1.  Junior Henning Dirks picked up the assist on Hunter's first goal of the season.  Dirks leads Mason with four assists and six points.

“It was a good set piece for us, we haven't scored a lot of goals so we have to try to manufacture some,” Mason head coach Greg Andrulis said.  “The first half, other than their goal, I thought we played very well.  In the second half we started it slow and payed the price for that.  Obviously they're having a great year and they beat us on a set piece to the front post.”

The Hawks netted the eventual game-winning goal when sophomore Derek MacKinnon found the back of the net off a free kick in the 59th minute.  It's the second straight match that he has scored the game-deciding goal.  The win is the first over Mason for Saint Joseph's in program history.

The Patriots finished the game with an 11-6 advantage in shots, while the Hawks finished with a 5-2 edge in shots on goal.  Mason sophomore goalkeeper Tomas Lapnas made three saves against the Hawks and now has 15 saves in his first three collegiate games.

The game was the first of three contests in a nine day span for the Patriots.

“We have to build on the good things because we still have a chance to get into the conference tournament, that's our goal,” Andrulis said.  “We have to take care of business Wednesday night and get in the win column.  The momentum, we have to turn it around, we've had a couple of bad results in a row and the guys are pressing a little bit but we believe in them, we believe we can get it done.”

The Patriots are back in action when they host George Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.