Fairfax, Va. -- With a solid defensive effort today the George Mason women's lacrosse team defeated George Washington, 14-10, in an afternoon match at George Mason Stadium.

Mason (3-10, 2-4 A-10) clamped down on its defensive effort, especially in the first and fourth stanzas, and grad transfer Shannon Tuozzo scored a season-high five goals and added two assists as the Patriots notched its second conference win. The Colonials fall to 4-10, 2-4 in the conference.

The Patriots Goalkeeper Meghan Deehan recorded an impressive day in the net, saving 12 Colonial shots for a .545 save percentage. 

After trading goals to start the match, the Patriots strung together four straight goals to jumped out to its biggest lead, 7-2, in the second period. The Colonials responded with five goals spanning the second and third periods to tie the game, 7-7, one of three ties in the match. The Patriots rattled off two goals, a free position goal by Melanie Hutchinson and a goal by Chloe Reed but the Colonials wouldn't go away scoring back-to-back goals to tie the match at 9-9 with 5:09 left in the third. That was the final level score as Tuozzo notched two consecutive goals to end the period. Mason held GW to only one goal in the fourth.

George Washington handled the Patriots in the center circle, earning 16 draw controls to 11 by the Patriots. The Colonials had more draw wins in each of the first three periods, but in the fourth the Patriots grabbed four of the five draws.

Tuozzo connected on five of her team-high eight shots, seven on goal, today. Junior Chloe Reed recorded a season-high with three goals, her first hat trick of the season. Olivia O'Brien added two goals to her team-leading 28 goals on the season.

The Colonials were led by Phoebe Mullarky with three goals.

Mason will continue conference play on Thursday at Duquesne, with a 4 p.m. draw time.