Men’s soccer has not scored a goal in 305 minutes of play.
The Colonials’ scoreless streak continued this weekend when they suffered a 1-0 loss to George Mason on Friday and a 2-0 loss to VCU on Sunday.
Freshman Christian Lawal’s game-winner at St. Bonaventure on Oct. 24th in the 54th minute was the last time the team was able to reach the back of net.
“It’s not like we haven’t created chances,” head coach Craig Jones said. “But sometimes you just need a little bit of luck, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don’t, and it just hasn’t gone for us in the last two games where we needed it.”
In their final road game of the season, GW (6-9-1, 2-4-1) squared off against Revolutionary Rival George Mason (11-3-3, 4-2-1), the defending Atlantic 10 champions.
A quiet first half, in which the teams combined for only five shots, ended scoreless.
George Mason senior Timi Mulgrew, the A-10’s leading scorer, was able to break through in the 63rd minute to score what would become the game-winning goal.
The GW offense, led by sophomore Garrett Heine who started at forward, only managed a total of four shots with two of those landing on net. Junior goalkeeper Jean-Pierre van der Merwe would make five saves in the Colonial’s loss.
“It was almost the game of two halves,” Jones said. “We were a better team in the first half but we didn’t score from that possession, but Mason was the better team in the second and were able to score when they had the momentum.”
The team looked to turn things around against the Rams (7-7-4, 4-0-3) at home, but instead faced the same disappointment.
Jones went with two forwards Sunday, starting Lawal and junior Philip McQuitty, but VCU would score in the sixth minute of the game to take an early lead.
The Colonials responded well, nearly scoring equalizers in the 16th and 22nd minutes, but it appeared like no bounce would go their way.
“Sometimes [the problem] is just a bounce in the wrong direction and it’s always frustrating, but that’s how the game is,” senior co-captain Andri Alexandersson said. “But you just have to tell the guys to stay positive and that they’ll get another chance… Unfortunately it didn’t happen in this game, but hopefully it will come next week.”
GW’s momentum would not carry through to the second half, when the Rams put one more away in the 62nd minute to seal their shutout victory. The Colonials had a total of six shots on the day while VCU recorded 15, of which van der Merwe saved a total of five.
“[On Sunday,] we gave an early goal away from not pressing the ball enough, but again I think we played well in spells but we didn’t get enough numbers forward,” Jones said. “I think we did a good job defensively, but we just didn’t offer enough offensively to win either game.”
The Colonials have now fallen out of the top eight teams in the conference and will need to win their final match to have a chance at reaching the postseason.
But they no longer control their own destiny – winning on senior day next Sunday, the final game of the regular season, will not guarantee the team a berth.
The Colonials will play against conference newcomer Davidson at home, where they will honor four graduating seniors.
“If [next Sunday] can’t get this team going I don’t know what will,” Alexandersson said. “It’s going to be a good week of practice, and I think everyone is going to be ready. It’s going to be a big game.”
