John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor
As the clouds loomed during a murky Halloween afternoon, the George Mason University women’s soccer team recognized the nine seniors on the team during the pregame festivities, starting off the final game of the season for the Patriots.
“I definitely think, since this is our best record since 1994, we’ve done great. Winning the last five games proved how much dedication and heart we had,” said senior forward Theresa DeLucca on the season.
It was a must-win game to keep their hopes alive to enter the conference tournament. While the Towson Tigers’ season was over regardless the result of the game, the Patriots entered the match tied with the James Madison Dukes for fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association, with only four teams advancing to the postseason tournament.
The Dukes won the head-to-head, so a tie of records between the two teams would send the Dukes to the tournament. The Patriots would need to win their game with a Dukes’ loss or tie, or they could tie with a Dukes’ loss.
Knowing the need to win in the game, the Patriots (14-4-2, 6-3-2) came out of gates with a strong offense, creating strong momentum as ball control led to many opportunities to score.
Unfortunately, Mason could not capitalize on these opportunities, not by fouls or change in possession, but by not many kicks on goal.
Sloppy goal play on the Patriots’ side put the game in question during the first half as freshman goalkeeper Katie Frey came a fair distance out of the box multiple times.
The sloppy defensive play and the inability to capitalize on offense led to a scoreless first half.
Ball control again seemed to switch between the two teams to the beginning of the second half, with both teams able to put many shots on goal.
“She said it was the last game of the season; we were in control of our own destiny, so just go out there and play for the seniors,” said junior midfielder Omolyn Davis on Head Coach Diane Drake’s halftime speech.
The Patriots should have been scared multiple times during the beginnings of the second half, as two Towson kicks went off the bars, missing by only inches. Seeing this occur multiple times, there was still no change in the level of play for Frey and the Patriots’ defense, allowing the same thing to happen over and over again.
With 35 minutes left in the half, the Patriots finally put a string of plays together, as Davis fed the ball to DeLucca for her seventh goal of the season.
Going down the field, only two minutes after the goal, Davis stopped the ball and fed it a mass confusion, finally ending in a goal by senior defender and midfielder Patti Benner, with an assist inside the box by Davis, for her second of the night and her eighth on the year.
Only a few more minutes of play followed before senior forward Annie Lebherz fed the ball to DeLucca for her eighth goal of the year.
For the end of the scoring frenzy, Lebherz gave her third assist of the year, second of the game, to senior midfielder Sasha Vido, who scored for only her second time all year.
During the frenzy, four of the nine seniors honored on the night were involved, gaining goals and assists.
While the Patriots won their game, the Dukes also won against the Rams, gaining a playoff berth.
Although the Patriots played with everything they had, their season ended as they watched the scoreboard.
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