By By Dave Diamond
Riding two straight home Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) wins, the Pride was unable to make it a clean sweep of division rivals on the home stand. Even though it out-shot George Mason University (GMU), 17-7, and virtually dominated all of regulation time, the Pride just could not break through and settled for a 0-0 tie.
The Pride (7-3-2, 2-1-1) now carry a three game unbeaten streak and has looked very impressive against CAA opponents thus far. However, even though it did not suffer a loss, Pride head coach Richard Nuttall still said being shutout at home is not acceptable.
“I said to my assistant coaches that ‘if this game ends at 0-0, I’ll feel like we’ve lost two points instead of gaining one point,” he said.
It took gutsy efforts on a couple of key plays in overtime to keep the Pride from an upsetting loss. With GMU firing with its best offense of the game in double overtime, the Patriots nearly got the “golden goal.” With 7:15 left in the game, GMU junior Josh Fleming took a point blank shot with Pride goaltender Matthias Gumbrecht out of position, but senior midfielder Jason Gates sprawled in front of the net to stop the shot.
Only minutes later, it seemed certain a mad scramble in front of the Pride net would result in a winning goal for Mason, but Pride junior midfielder Constantinos Christoudias managed to knock the ball out of mid-air just as it was about to cross the goal line. It was a nervous moment for the Pride, who almost made it through the game without many threats from the Patriots (4-4-3, 0-1-3).
In the early going, it looked as if the Pride was on its way to an easy victory. Less than two minutes into the game, Christoudias smashed a shot off the crossbar and senior captain Matt Telling missed wide on the rebound.
Under 12 minutes into the contest, senior forward and Pride goals leader Michael Todd hit the post trying to go short side. He was looking for his 11 goal of the season, but was denied and was for the most part held in check by GMU for most of the game.
There would be more of the same offensive push from the Pride, much of it thanks to the fine play of junior Arman Osooli. The midfielder missed just wide on a shot from the left side about 17 minutes in and then was the catalyst on a play that seemed to give the Pride the lead. With seven minutes left, Osooli had his shot deflected and junior Nick Leddy was able to kick the ball by Patriots’ goaltender Eric Barnes. However, the goal was disallowed because Leddy was called offside, and the half would end, unfortunately scoreless for the Pride.
The Pride out shot GMU, 9-1, in the first half and played with possession of the ball for most of it. The Patriots were unable to muster any type of scoring chances, and in the second half, the Pride would not capitalize on any of its opportunities.
Christoudias shot wide from the left side about five minutes in, and Todd headed the ball high and wide off a Christoudias corner kick a few moments later.
Twelve minutes into the half Osooli tried again to break the tie, this time outrunning the defense until he was deep into the offensive zone and sent a cross to Todd who missed just wide and hit the near side of the net.
Finally, halfway through the second half, GMU managed to put pressure on the Pride. The defense was caught napping when the Patriots’ Kephern Fuller found himself with the ball and nobody around him, but fired wide. Then, the Pride fired back for the rest of regulation, but Barnes held strong.
With under 13 minutes left, Pride sophomore Charalambos Rossides sent a floating cross that Gates got a head on, but Barnes made a huge diving save. In the final minutes, Osooli again would get past the defense and tried a tip pass to Christoudias, whose shot was saved, resulting in more disappointment for the Pride.
“The main thing is, it wasn’t a loss,” captain Matt Telling said. “We’re still unbeaten at home, so it keeps our track record fairly good. We feel we’re capable of winning every game, but it was just one of those days.”