Mason women's soccer dominates ODU in 3-0 home shutout

Patriots snap two-game skid to bring their record to 2-3-1 (Photo by Walter Martinez).

The George Mason University women’s soccer team ended their two-game losing streak on Saturday night, beating Old Dominion 3-0 at Mason Field.

A ground ball from right outside of the box off the foot of Mason midfielder Kelly Pizzingrelli broke the 0-0 deadlock midway through the first half.  The scoring play was setup by an backward pass from midfielder Brenna Connell. Mason came out firing in the second half as Liz Hodges scored her second goal of the season off of a double assist from Danielle O’Brien and Paige Babel.  An assist from Jazmin Cardoso led to Karina Irizarry’s 1^st goal of the season and a 3-0 lead for the Patriots.      

Near miss corner kicks were as far as the Patriot defense allowed the Monarchs in the first half. Old Dominion had four corner opportunities - the closest being a header that sailed just over the crossbar. Goalkeeper Lyndse Hokanson had a strong first half as her aggressiveness led to the prevention of any goal scoring opportunities. In the second half, she made an incredible diving save to turn away the most legitimate scoring threat. Turnovers on offense put pressure on the defense, forcing them to make plays to preserve the shutout.

Mason’s next game is away on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Loyola.  Here are the postgame interviews with Liz Hodges and Head Coach Diane Drake.