Men's Soccer | 10/28/2017 10:44:00 PM

Box Score FAIRFAX, Va. – The final home game of the season ended on a sour note for the George Mason men's soccer team.

The Patriots suffered a 4-0 loss to No. 25 Massachusetts on Saturday night at George Mason Stadium on Senior Night. Mason (5-8-2, 0-6-1 Atlantic 1) allowed two goals before halftime and never recovered.

UMass (12-2-3, 6-0-1) remained unbeaten in league play as it scored the first four goals of the game.

"They were clinical," Mason head coach Greg Andrulis said of UMass. "Their first chance was a goal and our first two chances were misses. They are a very good team. They just keep the pressure on, relentless. They got the job done."

The first UMass goal came in the 23rd minute when freshman Davis Smith headed in a cross from Alex Desantis. In the 36th minute, Desantis found the back of the net, converting a pass into the right side of the net.

The Minutemen then added the dagger right after halftime. Just 63 seconds into the second half, Matthew Mooney received a pass from Smith and finished a shot into the left side for a three-goal lead.
"The moments of the game we needed to be a little better – the third goal killed us coming right out of halftime," Andrulis said. "But I'm proud of the guys. They fought hard all the way to the end. We finally got that elusive goal but it was too little, too late. But the guys fought hard."

UMass added a goal in the 71st minute off a free kick. Dirks' scored Mason's lone goal in the 86th minute on a penalty kick. The senior from Germany now has nine goals this season to tie Smith for the most in the conference.

The Patriots were outshot 14-12 but had several opportunities hit off the crossbar, go just high or getted stopped by UMass goalkeeper Bardia Asefnia, who made five saves. Redshirt junior Graydon Hester led the team with five shots, including three on goal. Mason goalkeeper Tomas Lapnas made six saves.

Before the game, the Patriots honored their six seniors – captains David Galdo, Henning Dirks and Alain Sargeant along with Dan Casey, Noah Kemble and Conlan Kemmerer.

"They are all special guys," Andrulis said. "We talked about it before the game and mentioned a little bit about each of them and the contributions they made on and off the field, how they're important to the program and the leadership and good examples for the young guys. Just super disappointed that we couldn't get it done for them tonight and we couldn't get into the conference tournament."

Mason closes out its season at Dayton at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.