Mitchell Richtmyre/Fourth Estate
The Patriots are one of two teams in the country with 12 wins
BY CHRISTIAN SEGOVIA, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
On Oct. 26, Mason men’s soccer defeated St. Bonaventure 4-1 to gain sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. Mason’s win puts them a game ahead of Duquesne heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Mason is now one of two in the country with 12 wins. The other is Pittsburgh, as the Panthers are ranked third nationally and sit atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In the first half, the Patriots and Bonnies created chances for their teams to score a goal, but both defenses denied those chances, ending the first half 0-0.
St. Bonaventure’s Kenzo Brito opened up the scoreline, 1-0 in the second half. In the 56th minute, Brito got the pass inside the box, kicking the ball to the top left corner of the goal.
Mason wasted no time to come back. In the 57th minute, Mason forward Martim Sereno cut inside the box from the right side field, dribbling past St. Bonaventure defenders. Sereno passed to midfielder Javier Montava, who kicked the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, making it 1-1.
In the 59th minute, Montava started an attack, passing the ball to Mason defender Jordi Navio Sanchez on the right side of the field. Sanchez passed to midfielder Nicholas Prioli, who passed the ball to Mason’s Luis Maestre inside the box. Maestre found Sanchez running inside the box and kicked the ball to the left side of the net, making it 2-1.
In the 63rd minute, Mason continued its flurry of goals, as Sereno found forward Marek Gonda in the middle of the field. Gonda passed it to forward Kelly Janssen, who was running down the left side field. Janssen kicked the ball outside the box into the bottom right corner of the net, making it 3-1.
Bonnies midfielder Gabriel Addo picked up a red card, after two yellows from fouling two Mason players. St. Bonaventure went down to 10 men on the field after the 63rd-minute ejection.
Mason capitalized on the man-advantage. Javi Sanchez passed to James Eliuda out of a free kick. Eliuda, from Mason’s defending side, crossed the ball to Janssen, running down the left field. In the 65th minute, Janssen kicked the ball past Bonnies’ goalkeeper into the bottom right corner, making it 4-1.
Mason controlled the ball for 54% of the whole game, while the Bonnies controlled the ball for 46%.
Mason shot the ball 16 times with 11 of those shots on goal, while the Bonnies shot the ball 14 times with four of those shots on goal.
The Patriots will return to action on Nov. 2 in Richmond against VCU. A win against the Rams would clinch the A-10 regular season championship for Mason.
