Box Score
Rhody Starters
Leifhelm (GK), Camillo, Matthews, Friedrichs, Oakley, Moran, Davids, Casey, Sykes, Lamb, Micheletti
George Mason Starters
Butts (GK), Sargeant, Washington, Colcombe, Herstek, Dirks, Eckenrode, Hoffman, Mulgrew, Hunter, Tucker
How It Happened
Mike Casey proved to be more than the Patriots could handle as he knotted the game up at 1-1 with less than four minutes remaining in regulation and then headed home the golden goal with just 2:30 left to play in double overtime.
Matt Sykes set up Casey's first goal, taking a ball into the six-yard box and feeding a pass to the front of the goal where Casey slipped in the equalizer. A final-minute save by Nils Leifhelm kept the score tied at one apiece and sent the teams to overtime. After an additional 17 scoreless minutes, Casey put the game away with a diving header off a service from Carlo Davids.
The victory advances Rhode Island to the Atlantic 10 Championship game for the first time since 2006, when Rhody captured the league title with a 2-0 win over Saint Louis. Overall, URI has gone 5-2-1 in eight A-10 title matches.
Scoring Summary
46:32 - MASON - Daniel Hoffman (Henning Dirks)
86:17 - URI - Mike Casey (Matt Sykes) -- VIDEO
107:30 - URI - Mike Casey (Carlo Davids) -- VIDEO
Inside the Box Score
- With the win, Rhode Island improves to 13-4-3 while George Mason falls to 11-4-5.
- The 13 victories are URI's most since 2005 when the Rams went 13-8-2. That year Rhody claimed both the A-10 regular season and tournament titles.
- The Patriots had entered the tournament ranked 26th in College Soccer News' national poll. It is the second time this season URI knocks off nationally-ranked George Mason as Rhody also posted a 3-1 win over the then 22nd-ranked Patriots on Oct. 17. The Rams overcame a 1-0 deficit in that game as well.
- Redshirt junior Mike Casey's two-goal performance marked his first multi-point game of the season. It also was his first multi-goal game since Sept. 18, 2012. The Rhody forward now has 11 points for the season (5g/1a) and 29 for his career (11g/7a).
- Senior Matt Sykes' assist on Casey's first goal was his sixth of the season, moving him into a tie for 19th in program history with 57 career points on 21 goals and 15 assists.
- Freshman Carlo Davids picked up an assist on Casey's second goal. Davids now has two game-winning assists and two game-winning goals on the season.
- Freshman goalkeeper Nils Leifhelm made four saves, en route to his 12th win of the season.
- As a team, Rhode Island has lost just once (to #16 Saint Louis) in its last 15 games, after starting the season 1-3-1.
Up Next
The Rams advance to the A-10 Championship game, where they will face sixth-seeded Fordham at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
