The Massachusetts men’s soccer team lost its first Atlantic-10 game of the season, falling 2-1 to George Mason. Saturday’s loss ended the Minutemen’s (4-2-2, 0-1 A-10) winning streak of four games.
Despite outshooting George Mason (6-1, 1-0 A-10) 14-6, UMass was unable to capitalize on its chances until after the Patriots built a two-goal lead. George Mason keeper Jaume Salvado made five saves and played aggressively off his line to snuff out Minutemen through balls, limiting their opportunities off the rush.
Just 14 minutes after opening the scoring, the Patriots threatened to score again from a corner kick. Will Carson delivered an in-swinging ball, curling unimpeded to the back post, where Marek Gonda rose above the UMass defense to head it past goalkeeper Alex Geczy. The tally earned George Mason a 2-0 lead that proved insurmountable for UMass. The Minutemen struggled to defend their own box throughout the game, allowing the Patriots make deep runs and create scoring opportunities right in front of the goal.
“[George Mason] had two shots on target and scored two goals, both of them were inside our penalty area, one off a set piece,” UMass head coach Fran O’Leary said. “We lost the set piece battle today and we lost the battle of the penalty area today, and usually if you lose one or both it’s very, very difficult to win a college game.”
George Mason’s first goal developed from a failed UMass free kick. The Patriots sent the ball up the wing, taking advantage of their numbers. Luis Maestre took the space afforded to him by UMass defenders, pushing into the penalty area and drawing Geczy off his line. Maestre floated it over the sliding keeper and into the far corner to give the Patriots the lead 15 minutes into the second half.
“We were a little tentative and we didn’t impose ourselves like we typically do,” O’Leary said. “We’ve imposed ourselves on the opponents more so than we did today…we didn’t defend our box in two key areas in two key moments.”
The Minutemen played with more urgency in the final minutes of the game, pinning George Mason in its own half as they aimed to halve the deficit.
After an Alec Hughes attempt on goal was parried out of play, UMass obtained a corner kick with eight minutes remaining. Matt Cence delivered his cross into the crowd in the center of the goal, where a Matt Fordham header initially rang off the post. The ball bounced right to Johan Feilscher, who poked it into the net to slice the Patriots’ lead in half. The Merrimack transfer made his first appearance since the second match of the season and scored his first UMass goal in the process.
Minutes later, the Minutemen maintained possession deep in George Mason’s half, probing for an opportunity to equalize. A high cross floated across the Patriots’ goal, where UMass’ Mike Willis flew in from outside the box and headed the ball just wide. The Minutemen were unable to tie the game, though they generated an abundance of sustained pressure and threatened right up until the final whistle.
“The urgency picked up after we scored, we needed that urgency from the first minute, usually, we have it,” O’Leary said. “We won four straight, I think we’ve out-scored opponents 13-1 over that stretch so we’ve done quite well. But, I think that’s the question our guys will be asking themselves, why the urgency we displayed when we got back in the game, why we didn’t bring it in the first minute.”
UMass will hit the road for its first away game in conference play, traveling to New York to take on Fordham on Saturday, Sept. 28. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
James Rust can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @James__Rust.
