Pirates Surge Past George Mason 16-10

Friday, February 25

Fairfax, VA

4 PM

East Carolina University

4-0, 0-0

George Mason

0-4, 0-0

East Carolina

George Mason

February 25, 2022 | Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score

FAIRFAX, VA. – An 8-2 second half, including a shutout fourth quarter, propelled the East Carolina lacrosse team to a 16-10 win over George Mason on Friday afternoon.

The Pirates improve to 4-0 on the season, the best start in program history, while George Mason drops to 0-4.

The first quarter was a game of runs. George Mason grabbed the opening two goals in just over three minutes, prompting a Pirate timeout. East Carolina got back in the game, getting goals from Leah Bestany and Sophia LoCicero. The Pirates got their first lead of the game with 7:09 left in the first half when Nicole LeGar found Megan Tryniski in front of the George Mason goal and Tryniski flipped in a backhanded goal.

From there though, the Patriots took over and scored the final four goals of the first quarter to make it 6-3. A Patriot goal to open the second quarter put ECU into its biggest hole of the young season.

It was not long before East Carolina began to climb out of the deficit. Tryniski dodged from behind the goal and got in front where she was able to score. Payton Barr followed it up by converting a free-position shot. The run continued with Tryniski polishing off a first half hat trick and then Ellie Bromley dodged into the front of the cage and fired a rocket that found the back of the net to make it 7-7.

The scoring slowed down after Bromley's goal. George Mason got one more goal to retake the lead. The Pirates made it a tie game as Frances Kimel fed LeGar for a goal with 11 seconds left in the half, making it 8-8 at the break.

The pace continued to slow down in the third quarter, as neither team could take control of the game. Barr got her second goal of the game at the 11:40 mark when she cut in from the right wing and scored a backhand. But 70 seconds later, the Patriots answered. The pattern repeated itself once again, with LeGar getting her second goal to make it 10-9 Pirates, but the Patriots had an answer.

East Carolina finally found some breathing room at the end of the third quarter. Sophie Patton scored on a free-position shot to make it 11-10. Kimel then stole a pass from the George Mason goalkeeper and raced in to score on an empty net. Kimel was not done there, as she added a second straight goal with seven seconds left in the third to make it 13-10 after the third.

The Pirates clamped down on the defensive end to make sure George Mason never had a chance to get back in the game. Bestany bagged a goal 59 seconds into the fourth quarter, but from there, only two more goals were scored. Kimel got her hat trick with a goal with 8:21 remaining while Barr got a hat trick of her own on a goal with 2:38 remaining. The Pirates shut out the Patriots in the fourth quarter, the fourth shutout quarter of the season for East Carolina.

ECU finished with a 44-33 edge in shots, while both teams had 14 draw controls. George Mason had a 16-10 edge in ground balls, but the Patriots turned it over 11 times compared to nine for the Pirates. ECU shot 4-of-11 from the eight-meter arc while George Mason was 2-of-7.

Kimel led the Pirates with three goals and two assists while Tryniski had three goals and a helper. Barr and LeGar each had three points, with LeGar grabbing a game-high eight draw controls. Kimel, Caroline Meininger, Jordyn Cox and Alexandra Giacolone led the team with two ground balls each while Giacolone and Maddie Kercher each caused two George Mason turnovers.

Brynn Knight took the first 30 minutes in the cage for ECU, making five saves. Sophie Bandorick took the final 30 minutes, making 10 saves.

The Pirates will have the biggest test of the young season as they travel to Durham to take on No. 8 Duke on Monday night. That game will get started at 5 p.m., and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.