The rain, the early 1-0 deficit at the 2:40 mark, or the fact that they had to go against one of the CAA’s top teams did not stop defender Kimmy Moss from scoring her second goal of the season as Mason (4-5-0, 1-0-0) was able to come out of Harrisonburg with a stunning 2-1 victory over James Madison (4-3-2, 0-1-0) in front of 206 fans on Friday night.

Madison took the early lead in the second minute of the game when midfielder Ashley Flateland headed Teresa Rynier’s corner kick into the net. With the Dukes in control for most of the first half, the Patriots finally got its chance to score the equalizer right before the intermission. Mason goalkeeper Kelly Keelan, who made five saves after giving up the early Flateland goal, took a free kick from 26 yards and was able to get the shot to hit far post and into the net in the 44th minute. It was Keelan’s sixth goal of the season.

At the midway point of the second half, Moss headed the ball past Madison goalkeeper Diane Wszalek from 12 yards out on a free kick from Jessica Paris. Paris recorded her sixth assist of the season as Moss scored her second game-winning goal.

“After scoring against Hartford I have become addicted to the rush of scoring goals. So I'm hoping there will be many more to come,” said Moss.

Moss’ goal gives Mason their eighth second half goal of the season, but the margin is still quite significant as the team also allowed 13 goals. However, they have outshot their opponents 84-56 in the second half. Friday night’s victory was a different story for Mason as the team scored the second half goal on only three shots while Madison took five second half shots.

Not only does Mason hand Madison their first home loss for the 2008 season, but Friday night’s loss was the first in nearly two years as the Dukes went 17-0-2 in that span. Mason entered the game 0-4-0 on the road, but had that winless streak snapped. Despite being in tenth based on overall standings in the CAA, the Patriots are in a four-way tie for first in the conference.

“Getting a win against JMU was crucial. We've been frustrated with our results in out of conference games, but ultimately, taking care of games in our conference is what it's all about. Beating JMU really got us off on the right start. The CAA is a very competitive conference and any team can beat any other team on any given day. So I think we definitely have a little more confidence after beating them, but we're not going to take the win too high or low. What we will do is take everything positive that came out of that game and put it towards our next game,” said Moss.

Last season, Mason won their CAA opener in a 2-0 home win against Northeastern, but eventually struggled in the late part of the season, losing four of their last six games including the CAA tournament game against rival JMU. To prevent last season’s struggles from happening again this year, Mason turns to the offensive production from Keelan, who also plays forward, as she leads the team with six goals and 12 points. Moss, forward Annie Lebherz, and defender Patti Benner have two goals apiece, and Paris leads the team with five assists.