FAIRFAX, Va. – The No. 6 West Virginia University men's soccer team defeated No. 22 George Mason, 6-4, in a high-scoring affair Sunday afternoon at George Mason Stadium. The Mountaineers improve to 3-1-1 on the season while the Patriots fall to 2-2-0.
 
It was the first time since 2015 that the Mountaineers have scored six goals in one game when they did so twice against James Madison and San Francisco.
 
Additionally, it is tied for the third highest-scoring game in WVU history with 10 combined goals, and just the sixth time that at least 10 goals have been scored in a game, the first since a 10-0 West Virginia win over Charleston in 1982. It is the highest scoring game that the Mountaineers have played in since a 5-4 win over Indiana in 2013.
 
On Sunday, junior Pablo Pozos scored a brace to give him five goals this season, the most on the team. Senior Marcus Caldeira added his fourth goal of the season as well as his fourth assist, tied with Isaac Scheer, who had two assists on Sunday, for most on the squad.
 
Freshmen Sammie Walker and Juan Alvarez each scored the first goals of their careers while senior Felix Ewald had his first of the season and third of his Mountaineer tenure. Pozos, graduate student Bryce Swinehart, junior Constantinos Christou, and senior Ethan Dekel Daks each added assists in the game.
 
Despite the four goals allowed, graduate student Marc Bonnaire made a season-high five saves off seven shots during live action as GMU converted two penalty kicks.
 
Pozos gave the Mountaineers the lead in the 13^th minute with a one-touch goal off a great pass into the box by Caldeira. In the 24^th minute, Scheer found Alvarez who got a shot off that deflected off a defender and trickled across the line with the goalkeeper helpless sitting on the ground.
 
George Mason drew a penalty in the 30^th minute and converted it before equalizing just a minute later.
 
Ewald responded in the 38^th minute with a strike from just inside the box to put the Mountaineers back on top heading into the half.
 
Out of the break, Walker scored in the 50^th minute, taking a long ball from Dekel Daks before making a move around the keeper and depositing the ball into the open net. Caldeira followed in the 55^th minute with a clever shot around the keeper that snuck just inside the right post.
 
George Mason added another penalty in the 67^th minute before Pozos scored his second goal of the game on a brilliant give-and-go with Swinehart.
 
The Patriots got one more in the 81^st minute, but the Mountaineers held after that with a pair of saves by Bonnaire to secure the victory. It is their first ranked win of the season and 10^th of the Dan Stratford era over the last six seasons.
 
West Virginia will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 12, at Longwood. Kickoff from Farmville, Virginia is set for 5 p.m.
 
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