April 29, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. - Sophomore goalkeeper Sara Longobucco was rewarded for her stellar play in No. 13 George Mason's 11-10 victory over James Madison this past week with the first CAA Player of the Week honor of her career. Longobucco played all 60 minutes between the pipes and recorded nine saves to help the Patriots clinch the second seed in the upcoming CAA Championship Tournament.

Mason took a late three-goal lead and held off the Dukes for the one-goal victory in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at the James Madison Lacrosse and Soccer Complex. The Patriots were in a must-win situation to qualify for the conference tournament. With the win, Mason completed the finest regular season in school history with 12 wins, the first time the Patriots have reached double-digit wins in the 15-year history of the program. George Mason tied the school record set in 2005 with five conference victories.

After the Patriots took an 11-8 lead following senior attacker Laura King's goal with 11:10 remaining, the Dukes mounted a comeback, scoring back-to-back goals to cut the deficit to 11-10 with 9:12 remaining. The 11-10 score held for the final 9:12 of the contest as the Patriots' defensive unit turned away the James Madison attack time-and-time again.

Longobucco made three critical saves within that time span. With 6:37 remaining, Longobucco turned away Kim Griffin's close-range shot attempt. With 1:45 left in the contest, Longobucco again came up huge, turning away Julie Stone's free-position shot. JMU had another opportunity when Annie Wagner, last year's CAA Player of the Year, fired a shot with 1:05 remaining. Longobucco thwarted Wagner's attempt to preserve the lead and Mason held on for the win.

The Patriots face third-seeded Towson in the semifinals of the CAA Championship Tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Albert-Daly Field in Williamsburg, Va. Top-seeded William and Mary will face fourth-seeded Delaware in the day's other semifinal at 5 p.m. The winners of the semifinal games will meet in the championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. with the winner of that contest earning the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championships.