ST. LOUIS—Second-seeded George Washington scored twice in the second half and held off a furious Massachusetts rally to beat the third-seeded Minutewomen 2-1 Friday at Hermann Stadum in the Atlantic 10 Women’s Soccer Championship Semifinals.
 
The Colonials (14-2-4) advance to the A-10 championship game to face top-seed and host Saint Louis, which beat La Salle 1-0 in the first semifinal. The SLU-GW title game is set for noon Sunday.
 
It didn’t take George Washington long to break a scoreless tie coming out of halftime. Sofia Pavon scored in the 47^th minute, flicking a soft shot from the top of the box after a tap pass by Maria Pareja. Rachel Sorkenn struck again for GW with an insurance goal that became the game winner after UMass scored late. Sorkenn’s shot came from 18 yards out on a pass from Isabelle Eskay. Sorkenn, Pareja and Pavon led GW with four shots each and the Colonials had 17 total shots.
 
The Minutewomen (10-6-3) turned on the offensive pressure, and got a goal from Lauren Bonavita, who took a through ball from Rebeca Frisk and beat GW keeper Tamaki Machi one-on-one. A shot off the post and a spectacular leaping save by Machi kept UMass to just one goal however. Bonavita had five shots to lead Massachusetts, which totaled 10 shots for the game.
 
Machi made two saves, including the one that preserved the GW lead late in the game. Peyton Ryan stopped four shots for UMass.