MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Thirteen minutes from their second defeat of the season, West Virginia found the back of the net twice in a span of just over four minutes to rally past George Mason, 2-1.
The Mountaineers (2-1-1) held a 20-5 lead in shots, an 8-3 edge in corner kicks and they possessed the ball for 62 percent of the match. They were finally rewarded with goals in the 77th and 81st minute to defeat the Patriots.
“Teams get overwhelmed when they have to defend a lot of time in their half. I think that’s what happened,” said WVU senior forward Pablo Pozos. “They were very tired at the end and they probably couldn’t handle all our bench boosts. That helped a lot and I think that was the key.”
“I think there was a mentality shift at halftime and a real collective effort that was special to watch, to be fair. I thought over the course of the game, we did enough to win the game with respect to the threat that George Mason offered,” said WVU head coach Dan Stratford.
“I thought the game moved closer and closer to their goal. We missed some chances early. It would have been nice to do it with a little less stress. But I thought we just beat a good team, a good footballing team with a nice identity. If we have to do it through sheer will and determination, that’s a really good quality to have.”
George Mason (1-2-1) opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a goal from James Eliuda which came on GMU’s first shot on goal.
Pushing for an equalizer late in the match, WVU was awarded a penalty kick following video review after Kanta Ishii was fouled in the box. Pozos stepped to the spot and sent the ball into the upper right-hand corner of the net despite goalkeeper Angel Hernandez guessing the right way on his save attempt.
“I scouted the keeper before because he is Spanish. I played against him in Spain a lot of times,” Pozos said. “Actually what I scouted is that he was going to go to the other side. I’m thankful I put it in the corner and he couldn’t get there.”
“I don’t watch penalties,” Stratford said. “I heard it tickle the net and some of the equipment guys and field crew cheered. That was all I needed to know.”
Just over four minutes later, WVU took the lead when Isaac Scheer and Sammie Walker connected on passes ahead to Julen Recalde. His initial shot was saved by Hernandez before Recalde scored on the rebound. The goal was his second game-winning tally of the year.
In the middle of their longest homestand of the year (five games), the Mountaineers were coming off a no contest result against Akron. The match was abandoned in the 47th minute due to severe weather.
“We understood when we designed the schedule that Akron, George Mason, Denver on the bounce is going to be a really tough stretch of games,” Stratford said. “And UNCG was before that as a ranked team on the road. We knew we challenged ourselves with a strong non-conference. We have kind of been stung the last two years with not doing enough to be a [NCAA Tournament] seeded team. So we are up for the challenge.”
Stratford took the field one day after the death of his father, Mick. WVU players wore black arm bands in tribute.
“I was toast with about ten minutes to go. So it was important that we held on, obviously,” Stratford said. “The players making a decision to wear that as a tribute to my dad with the sad news that he passed yesterday and how important he has been in my life and in my soccer career as a player and a coach given that he was a coach as well. I spoke to the players earlier. I felt I needed to address it. It kind of reinforced why I do this with the hundreds and hundreds of people that have reached out in a really short space of time.”