No. 22 MEN'S SOCCER vs. No. 6 WEST VIRGINIA
WHEN: Sunday, September 7 | 4 p.m.
WHERE: Fairfax, Va. | George Mason Stadium
RECORDS: George Mason (2-1-0); West Virginia (2-1-1)
LAST MEETING: The Mountaineers defeated the Patriots, 3-2 in overtime, Sept. 16, 2017 at George Mason Stadium
ALL-TIME SERIES: West Virginia leads, 3-2-0
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoMason.com
PROMOTIONS: . It's Pups at the Pitch, so students are welcome to bring their dogs! Plus, there will be a face painter, balloon artist, bounce house and team poster giveaway. An exclusive autograph session with the team will follow the match's conclusion. Remember, admission to George Mason soccer is FREE for all students. Access your free tickets via Mason360 in advance, or at the game. 
TICKETS: Tickets for the 2025 George Mason Men's Soccer season are on sale. All regular season home games will require a ticket for entry. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under as well as George Mason faculty/staff. Tickets can be purchased online, by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at 703-993-3270, or at the George Mason Stadium Gate on game day. Discounted rates and special experiences are available for groups of 15 or more. More information on Men's Soccer tickets can be found here

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FAIRFAX, Va. – The 22nd ranked George Mason men's soccer team hosts No. 6 West Virginia on Sunday, Sept. 7, with the opening kick scheduled for 4 p.m. at George Mason Stadium.
 
The Patriots are facing the Mountaineers for the first time in eight years.  George Mason hosted West Virginia on Sept. 16, 2017, with the Mountaineers claiming a 3-2 overtime win.  The home team has won four of the five meetings in the all-time series. 
 
The Mountaineers have recorded five NCAA Tournament wins over the last four season, including a run to the 2023 College Cup for the first time in program history.
 
Last time out, the Patriots defeated Bucknell, 3-2, on Tuesday.  Junior midfielder Brent Fields scored the game-winner in the final minute of play.  Sophomore midfielder Martim Sereno scored his third goal, while graduate student Jacobo Sanfeliu tallied his second goal of the season.
 
The Patriots outshot the Bison, 19-13, while both clubs finished with seven shots on goal.  George Mason had five corner kicks and Bucknell had three corner kicks in the match.
 
The Patriots were predicted to finish second in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll as voted on by the league's head coaches.  Graduate student defender Javi Sánchez, junior midfielder James Eliuda and sophomore forward Martim Sereno were selected to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference Team.
 
Head coach Rich Costanzo enters his fourth season with the Patriots.  He was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year last season after leading the Patriots to one of the most successful regular seasons in program history. 
 
Costanzo guided the club Atlantic 10 regular season title for the first time in program history in 2024.  The Patriots finished the season 13-4-1 overall, won seven of eight matches at home in the regular season, went 6-1-1 in conference play to post six wins in the A-10 regular season for the first time, and after earning the top-seed in the A-10 Championship, advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
                                                                   
The Patriots climbed to 13th in the United Soccer Coaches Association poll last season, the first time in 10 years that George Mason has been in the national rankings.  The Patriots finished the A-10 regular season third in both goals (33) and goals per match (2.2) and tied for the third-fewest goals allowed (17).
 
SCOUTING WEST VIRGINIA
 
West Virginia is 2-1-1 overall.  The Mountaineers are 2-1-0 at home and 0-0-1 on the road.

The Mountaineers won their first two matches of the season at home with a 5-2 victory over Manhattan (Aug. 21) and a 4-0 win over La Salle (Aug. 25).  West Virginia then played to a 0-0 draw at then-No. 16 Akron (Aug. 29).

Last time out, the Mountaineers fell 1-0 to No. 13 Gardner-Webb on Wednesday in Morgantown, W.Va.  West Virginia didn't lose at home last season, with a mark of 9-0-4 in 2024.

The Mountaineers are facing a team ranked in the top-25 for the third straight game.

Senior forward Marcus Caldeira and junior forward Pablo Pozo share the team lead in goals (3).  Caldeira also paces the Mountaineers in assists (3).

The Mountaineers swept Sun Belt Conference weekly awards last week, with junior defender Thijs Veldhorst named Defensive Player of the Week and Caldeira selected Offensive Player of the Week. 

The Mountaineers were predicted to finish second in the Sun Belt Coaches Poll behind 2024 national runner-up Marshall.  Caldeira was named Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season and to the Preseason All-Conference Team.

In 2024, West Virginia won both the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament championship, the first time that the Mountaineers have won both in the same season in program history.  In the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers defeated North Florida, 2-1, in Morgantown, W.Va. before falling on the road to No. 11 Virginia, 2-1.

ABOUT THE PATRIOTS

The Patriots have 14 returners and 13 newcomers on the roster heading into the 2025 season under fourth-year head coach Rich Costanzo (Maryland, '08).
Assistant coaches Noel Orozco (St. Bonaventure, '17) and Michael Callahan (North Carolina, '08) also enter their fourth year with the Patriots.
 
Graduate students returning from last year's squad are defenders Leo Lemoine (Pau, France), Javi Sánchez (Elche, Spain) and Jordi Navio Sanchez (Vallirana, Spain) along with goalkeeper Jaume Salvado (Barcelona, Spain). 
 
Returning for his senior junior year is defender Will Carson (Wheeling, W.Va.). 
 
Junior returners include goalkeeper Jack Desroches (Virginia Beach, Va.), defender David Garcia (Woodbridge, Va.), midfielders James Eliuda (Juba, South Sudan), Brent Fields (Alexandria, Va.), Quentin Clain (Villiers le Bel, France) and Javier Montava (Alcoy, Spain) along with forwards Abdul Kamara (Woodbridge, Va.) and Kelly Janssen (Sebastopol, Calif.).  
 
Forward Martim Sereno (Mira de Aire, Portugal) enters his sophomore season.
 
The Patriots added eight transfers during the offseason.  Graduate students entering their first year with the Patriots are goalkeeper Fernando Carreon Garcia (Saltillo, Mexico), defender Elijah Jackson (Summerfield, N.C.), midfielders Sergio Fernandez (Villanueva del Pardillo, Spain) and Kenzo Brito (Sao Paulo, Brazil), and forwards Jacobo Sanfeliu (Barcelona, Spain) and Nacho Diaz Barragan (al Maria, Spain).
 
Senior midfielder Mouhamed Tucker (Dakar, Senegal) and junior defender Yannick Mambo (Kinshasa, Congo) also enter their first year at George Mason.
 
Five freshmen enter their first year with the Patriots.  Forward Cristian Ramos (Lorton, Va.), midfielders John Balkey (Leesburg, Va.) and Alen Kapetanovic (Nyack, N.Y.), and forwards Tresz McLeod (Wheeling, W.Va.) and Jaime Godinho (Lisbon, Portugal).
 
PATRIOTS SCHEDULE
 
The George Mason is scheduled to play 15 regular season games, a slate that includes four matches against College Cup teams, eight matches against Atlantic 10 opponents and eight games at George Mason Stadium.
 
Head coach Rich Costanzo begins his fourth season.  He guided the Patriots to a 13-4-1 overall record last season and a 6-1-1 mark in conference play to claim the first-ever Atlantic 10 Regular Season title in program history.  George Mason recorded six A-10 wins in the regular season for the first time since joining the league in 2013.
 
In the regular season, George Mason will play two matches in August, six in September and October and one in November.
 
The Patriots played a pair of exhibition matches, facing Maryland on the road (Aug. 9,) and Pittsburgh at George Mason Stadium (Aug. 15).
 
The Green and Gold kicked off the regular season on the road and fell to #2 Marshall (Aug. 22), 2-1, in Huntington, W.Va.
 
The Patriots defeated No. 11 Virginia (Aug. 28) in their home opener, 4-1.  George Mason sophomore forward Martim Sereno scored twice for his first career two-goal game, while junior midfielder James Eliuda netted his first goal of the season and graduate student midfielder Jacobo Sanfeliu scored his first goal as a Patriot.

The victory marked the highest-ranked win by the Patriots in 14 years and the second-highest seeded team that George Mason has beaten since they took down No. 2 Maryland on September 29, 2009.  The win is the seventh win over a top-20 team in program history.

The crowd of 3,077 marked the largest for a George Mason men's soccer match in 25 years.  The 1,385 students in attendance set a new program record.
 
The Patriots defeated Bucknell (Sept. 2) 3-2.  Junior midfielder Brent Fields scored his first career goal, the game-winner in the 90th minute of play.  Sophomore midfielder Martim Sereno scored his third goal, while graduate student Jacobo Sanfeliu tallied his second goal of the season.
 
George Mason hosts No. 6 West Virginia (Sept. 7, 5 p.m.) and then Davidson for the first Atlantic 10 match of the season (Sept. 12, 7 p.m.).
 
George Mason then plays two non-conference matches.  The Patriots are on the road against UMBC (Sept. 20, 7 p.m.) in Baltimore, Md. and then back home to take on Georgetown (Sept. 23, 7 p.m.).
 
The Patriots will play two straight games on the road for the only time during the season when they travel to face Loyola-Chicago (Sept. 27, 7 p.m.) in Chicago, Ill. to close out the six games in the month of September.  George Mason will make the trip to George Washington (Oct. 4, 7 p.m.) in Washington, D.C. to begin the six-game October slate.
 
George Mason will alternate home and road games over the final six matches of the season.
The Patriots are home to battle in-state rival VCU (Oct. 8, 7 p.m.) before going on the road to face St. Bonaventure (Oct. 11, 7 p.m.) in St. Bonaventure, N.Y.
 
The Patriots return to George Mason Stadium to tangle with La Salle (Oct. 18, 7 p.m.) and travel for a non-conference matchup against William & Mary (Oct. 21, 7 p.m.) in Williamsburg, Va.
 
George Mason returns to league play with the final home match of the regular season against Saint Joseph's (Oct. 25, 7 p.m.).
 
The Patriots wrap up the regular season on the road against Duquesne (Nov. 1, 7 p.m.) in Pittsburgh, Pa.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
 
Tickets for the 2025 George Mason Men's Soccer season are on sale. All regular season home games will require a ticket for entry. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under as well as George Mason faculty/staff. Tickets can be purchased online, by calling the Athletic Ticket Office at 703-993-3270, or at the George Mason Stadium Gate on game day. Discounted rates and special experiences are available for groups of 15 or more. More information on Men's Soccer tickets can be found here
 
CORNER KICK
 
George Mason is ranked 22nd in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and 23rd in the Top Drawer Soccer Poll.