RICHMOND, Va. – Mike Casey tallied a pair of goals including a Golden Goal strike in the 108th minute to send top-seeded Rhode Island to 2-1 win over No. 4 George Mason in the semifinals of the 2014 Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Soccer Championship.
Rhode Island improves to 13-4-3 on the season and punches a ticket to Sunday’s Championship against the winner of Friday’s second semifinal between No. 2 Saint Louis and No. 6 Fordham. George Mason drops to 11-4-5.
After a scoreless first-half, Mason came out of the locker room and got on the board in the 47th minute when a Brice Colcombe thrown in found the head of Henning Dirks and eventually a waiting Daniel Hoffmann who scored to make it 1-0.
The match stayed that way until the 87th minute when Rhody pressured the Mason offensive end. Matt Sykes was able to slip a pass through a crowded space to Casey who was directly in front of the goal and scored to knot the game at 1-1.
In the 108th minute, a streaking Carlo Davids sent a crossing pass into the box where Casey used a diving header to score the game-winner and send Rhode Island its first A-10 Final since 2006.
Each team got off 17 shots on the night and Mason held a 7-4 edge in corner kicks.
Nils Leifhelm made four stops in net for Rhode Island, while Michael Butts made three for the Patriots.