Men's Soccer | 10/8/2017 7:54:00 AM

Box Score PHILADELPHIA – The George Mason men's soccer team fired off shot after shot and unleashed a relentless offensive attack on the road.

Unfortunately, the Patriots ran into a wall on the other end in Saint Joseph's goalkeeper Greg O'Connell in a 2-0 loss on Saturday night at Sweeney Field. Mason booted 23 shots, including nine on goal, but none found the back of the net as O'Connell made a career-high nine saves.

"A tough result," Mason head coach Greg Andrulis said. "We came up empty with a pretty good performance. The ball didn't bounce our way tonight. Their goalkeeper was hot tonight and made some key saves at key times that kept them in the game when the tide was in our favor."

The Patriots (5-4-2, 0-2-1 Atlantic 10) were blanked for the second straight game after not suffering a shutout in their previous nine contests. But Mason had opportunities, outshooting the Hawks 23-13, including a 15-5 advantage in the second half.

O'Connell made seven saves after halftime, including consecutive stops on point-blank shots from Mason's Raheem Lawal in the 73rd minute. The sophomore came off the bench and led the Patriots with three shots on goal. Senior captain Henning Dirks and sophomore Tunde Akinlosotu led the team with shots apiece.

Saint Joseph's (3-6-3, 1-1) picked up the only goal it needed in the first half. Ben Cochran scored on an assist from Eddie McCusker, who saved the ball from going out of play. He passed it back in toward the six-yard line where Cochran finished the shot.

The Hawks added a goal in the 56th minute on a penalty kick by Matt Crawford. Mason goalkeeper Tomas Lapnas made three saves.

The Patriots will try to bounce back when they host defending A-10 regular-season champ Saint Louis at 7 p.m. on Saturday at George Mason Stadium.

"The offense did everything possible but score," Andrulis said. "The guys played hard; the overall effort was there. We are looking forward to a key matchup against SLU at home next Saturday."