WILMINGTON, North
Carolina - Ten games have been played by the Seahawks in Colonial Athletic
Association action, but the season comes down to a single game on Saturday when
UNCW visits George Mason at 7 p.m.
The Seahawks enter the match needing a win and several other
results to qualify for the four-team CAA tournament next weekend at William
& Mary. UNCW is tied with James Madison and Georgia State with 13 points,
but holds all head to head, three-way and four-way tie-breakers. Now that's all
well and good, but UNCW needs either Old Dominion or Hofstra to tie or lose in
order for tie breakers to come into play.
UNCW, though, has dropped its last two and saw its winless
streak pushed to seven after losing at Delaware, 1-0, last weekend. UNCW had
several chances to take the lead early or tie the match late, but was unable to
find that elusive goal. Goals have been hard to come by recently for the
Seahawks, who have just two markers during that seven-game span.
While UNCW has seen its share of struggles on the offensive
end of the field, the defense has continued to shine. Brock Duckworth and
Brandon Miller have allowed just five goals combined in the last seven outings,
which includes three clean sheets. The backline of Jeff Shapiro, Indy Smith and
Shaun Utterson will be without their leftback as Christian Davidson will miss
his first game of the season after being booked twice against Delaware.
George Mason, meanwhile, is one of three teams, along with
Delaware and Old Dominion, who are tied for the fourth and final slot of the
conference tournament. The Patriots have been riding high with a 4-1-1 mark in
their last six games, including a 3-0 blitzing of Georgia State in Atlanta.
Saturday's game can be followed via live stats. A link to
the stats will be available on UNCWsports.com.