By David Borne | Staff Writer
After 110 minutes, the Duquesne Dukes and the George Mason Patriots tied 2-2 in Atlantic 10 action at Rooney Field on Wednesday night. Duquesne’s record moved to 7-3-4 on the season with a 2-1-2 record in conference play.
George Mason opened up the scoring in the contest, as junior forward Tolu Ibikunle was set up by passes from freshman Grant Robinson, and sophomore defender Cullen Hunter. The goal by Ibikunle came in the 18th minute, and was his second of the season.
It appeared that George Mason would increase their first half lead in the 27th minute, as Duquesne’s redshirt senior goalkeeper Evan Kozlowski managed to stop a barrage of George Mason shots from inside the box.
The first shot came from Tulo Ibikunle, who almost came away with his second goal of the match. George Mason forward Tunde Akinlosotu then fired a shot at the net off the rebound, which Kozlowski managed to get a hand on.
The Dukes’ first half scoring continued to be non-existent against the Patriots. They have failed to record a goal at any time during the first half of any of their 14 games this season.
While the Red & Blue were unable to put themselves on the board in the first half, things quickly changed after half time. Freshman Ryan Landry received a throw in from redshirt junior Cody West and then found Ian Larson, who fired the ball past George Mason goalkeeper Steffen Kraus for his first goal of the season. Landry has a team-high three assists so far in 2016.
George Mason showed that Larson’s goal was not going to take away any of their momentum from the first half, as freshman Tunde Akinlostu put the Patriots back on top just about four minutes after the Dukes scored the equalizer.
However, Duquesne was rewarded for their relentless pursuit all game with another goal. They knotted the score in the 81st minute when Ian Larson ripped a shot from the far left side, from well outside the box, past Steffen Kraus and into the top corner of the net.
“I felt great.” said Larson. “It’s not something you expect playing left back, but they just found my feet, and I was lucky enough for them to go in.”
When asked about the second goal, Larson mentioned that he was just trying to get the ball on net and see what happened.
“The ball came out to me on the left side, up near the left side of the box, and my first instinct was just whip it in as hard as I could. It took a lucky deflection and got over the keeper.”
Larson has spent most of the season as an outside back and therefore hasn’t had many opportunities to rifle shots. But he managed to take advantage of two opportunities on Wednesday night, which gave him his first two goals of the year. He now is tied for second on the team in goals scored.
After 90 minutes of play, the score was tied at 2-2, and the game headed into overtime. It was the 10th time this season that Duquesne has played extra time. Though Duquesne controlled the better half of the first overtime period, with one minute remaining, Kozlowski saved the game as he made a diving save to stop a shot from Mason Dirks. Kozlowski finished the game with 4 saves.
The game remained scoreless after 10 more minutes of sudden death overtime, and after a lengthy, hard-fought contest, neither team was able to pull away with the win. George Mason had lost all four of their Atlantic 10 games prior to Wednesday.
The Dukes now shift their focus to their game this Saturday, as they travel across the state to Philadelphia to take on the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. Saint Joseph’s record dropped to 6-8-1 on the season and 3-3 in the Atlantic 10, after they lost a 2-0 at VCU on Wednesday night.
