WASHINGTON, D.C. – The George Mason women's lacrosse team started April the same way it closed out March – in convincing fashion.
The Patriots opened up Atlantic 10 Conference play with a dominant 10-4 victory over Revolutionary Rival George Washington on Friday at the GW Lacrosse Field on the Mount Vernon campus. Rolling to its fourth straight win, Mason improved to 6-2 and is off to its best start since 2008.
Freshman Elizabeth Benedetto made a career-high 12 saves, junior Alexa McGovern matched a season-best with four goals and freshman Lydia Montanino dished out a career-high three assists.
“George Washington, being so close location-wise, it is important in so many ways to beat them,” head coach Jessy Morgan said. “They're a great opponent. They're aggressive. We feel really fortunate to come out with a win today.”
Mason (6-2, 1-0 A-10) got off to a slow start, struggling to score for the first eight minutes. George Washington (2-7, 0-1) went ahead just more than five minutes into the game.
That would be the Colonials' only lead of the day.
The Patriots methodically scored nine straight goals. McGovern tied it up on an unassisted goal after Jordan Sdanowich intercepted a GW pass and set up the goal. Ninety seconds later, freshman Chachi Kelehan fired in a goal from just inside 12 meters to put the Patriots up for good.
About 10 minutes later, Sdanowich, Jacquelyn Spalding and McGovern all scored in a three-minute span to give the Patriots all the offense it would need. Mason pushed the lead to 9-1 just five minutes into the second half.
In addition to McGovern's four goals, Sdanowich and Spalding each had two goals and Kelehan and Brooke Lorber also scored. Spalding and Kelehan also added assists. In their last three games, the Patriots have outscored their opponents 42-15.
“We have a lot of threats on attack and we've been holding teams to pretty few goals defensively so it is just about finishing,” Morgan said. “I feel like if one of them is not having a big day there are four other girls who can step up in their place. That is kind of what is happening. We can score in so many different ways this year as opposed to last year. It is great to have the scoring distributed all over the place.”
Defensively, the back line and Benedetto held an opponent to a season-low four goals for the second straight game after defeating Mount St. Mary's 15-4 on Wednesday.
Sophomore Kira Greer had a career day with a personal-best eight ground balls and a career-high three caused turnovers. The eight ground balls were the most by a Patriot in three years and tied for the 10-most all-time in a single game in program history.
In goal, Benedetto was tremendous, making 12 saves and allowing just four while facing 22 shots. Benedetto, a freshman from Fairfax, improved to 3-0 in all three starts she has made this year. Mackenzie Duffy, who has started five games, was not at the game. Her mother, Nancy Duffy, died from cancer earlier this week. Her funeral was Friday.
“(Benedetto) is a local kid. She pretty much bleeds green and yellow,” Morgan said. “We're really excited for her. She started behind Mack at the beginning of the season because Mack came with collegiate experience (at Robert Morris). But (Benedetto) is a very capable goalie. She has great size, great skills.”
The Patriots stay on the road to play Richmond at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Richmond, Va.
