Mason men's soccer defeats VCU in overtime to advance to the A-10 Championship game

Mason men's soccer team advanced to the final round of the A-10 Championship with an overtime win over VCU (photo by John Irwin).

The Mason men’s soccer team defeated in-state rival Virginia Commonwealth University 3-2 on Friday night and became the first team to represent George Mason University in a championship game since its move to the Atlantic-10 conference.

Timi Mulgrew sealed the win with a header off a Zach Herstek cross only 34 seconds into the first overtime period. Herstek had a goal for himself in the 27^th minute to bring Mason back to level terms after Dennis Castillo had capitalized on a poor play by the Patriots’ defense to give VCU the early lead.

In a tension-filled second half, Mason managed to take the lead just past the hour mark on a well-placed shot by sophomore Ryan Harmouche in the bottom left corner of Andrew Wells’ goal from 30 yards out. After conceding, the Rams took initiative of the game and equalized in the 80^th minute through Kharlton Belmar, who headed a cross from a corner by Nate Shiffman--his second assist of the game.

VCU kept knocking on the door for a winner in regulation time, but the Patriots’ defense and the excellent work of Rookie of the Year goalkeeper Steffen Kraus took the game into overtime, where Mason had the final word.

The championship game will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 17. Mason will know its opponent following the second semifinal between first-seeded Saint Louis University and the fourth seed La Salle University, which was played late Friday night.