FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's soccer team scored a pair of goals late, with junior Nicolette Herdegen netting the game-winner to give the Patriots a 2-1 victory over American on Thursday night at George Mason Stadium.

Mason (2-1-0, 0-0-0 A-10) had the possession advantage against American (0-3-0, 0-0-0 Patriot League) in the first half and outshot the Eagles 8-1, but the game remained scoreless after 45 minutes.

The Eagles took the lead in the 53rd minute when sophomore JoJo Miller was fouled inside the box and was awarded a penalty kick.  Miller scored low to the left side of Mason senior goalkeeper Kirsten Glad to give American a 1-0 advantage. 

The Patriots again controlled the play in the second half and were able to break through the Eagles defense.  With time winding down, senior Sarah Hardison netted her first goal of the season in the 84th minute to even the score 1-1. 

"It was a good ball from Abby," said Hardison.  "I made sure I had time to turn and shot it like in practice and it went in."

Hardison scored the equalizer with a blast into the top right corner of the net from 15 yards out.  Junior Abby Downey picked up her first assist of the season on the tally.

Less than three minutes later, Herdegen scored her first goal of the season, finding the back of the net in the 87th minute to put Mason in front 2-1.  Herdegen scored the eventual game-winner after a crossing pass by sophomore Nia Elbeck, who picked up her team-leading second assist.

"The team never quit believing that we were going to tie the game up," head coach Todd Bramble said.  "It's important in those moments that we get quality opportunities and that's the message when we are a goal down in the last 10 minutes."

Mason finished with an 17-6 advantage in shots, including a 11-3 edge in shots on goal.  The Patriots had been outshot 44-10 in their first two games of the season.  Mason finished the night with eight corner kicks while the Eagles didn't have a corner kick in the game.

"We made some changes and that helped us in possession," Bramble said.  "It created a lot of chances for us to get shots on goal and it was a much better feeling tonight to control the momentum for large parts of the game."

Glad, who entered the game with 19 saves in her first two starts, finished the night with two saves to improve her record to 2-1.  Hardison, who recorded a hat trick at American last season, finished with two shots on goal.  Senior Alex Myers, junior Kaila Williams and freshman Hugrun Olafsdottir each finished with two shots on goal in the game.

Mason and American have met 22 times, with the Patriots leading the all-time series 18-4-0.  The 18 wins are the second-most that Mason has recorded against any opponent in program history.  The Patriots have defeated George Washington 19 times.

Mason has also enjoyed the home field advantage against American, winning 10 of the 12 meetings in Fairfax, Va. and outscoring the Eagles by a combined score of 37-10.

The Patriots will continue their four game homestand on Sunday night at 7 p.m. against Towson.