George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Dayton
Men's Soccer Vies for A-10 Title at Dayton
4/13/2021 2:31:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Buff & Blue face host Flyers in Thursday semifinal
GW men's soccer heads to the Atlantic 10 Championship this week at Dayton's Baujan Field, aiming to secure its first conference tournament title since 2004.
The fourth-seeded Buff and Blue will begin their postseason push Thursday with a semifinal matchup vs. the host Flyers kicking off at noon. The winner advances to Saturday's final to face either No. 2 Saint Louis or No. 3 Fordham.
The entire championship is set to be broadcast via ESPN+.
HOW WE GOT HERE: GW (4-2-2, 3-1-2) earned a spot in the four-team field by winning the A-10's Central Pod in a tight race that went down to the regular season finale.
Last Saturday, the Buff and Blue delivered under pressure, roaring to a 4-1 win at Davidson to extend their season. Oscar Haynes Brown scored twice, Tom Cooklin delivered a career-high four points via a goal and two assists and Hrólfur Sveinsson netted his first collegiate score in the victory.
GW has hit on a winning formula in this abbreviated spring season with a nationally-ranked defense and an opportunistic attack.
The squad has conceded just five goals through eight matches, good for a 0.57 goals against average that ranks 14th in the country. Sophomore goalkeeper Justin Grady owns a .857 save percentage and four total clean sheets.
Offensively, Haynes Brown has found the net five times in six appearances this season, including three scores in two games last week. The dynamic forward from London, England, leads the conference in goals per game (0.83) and ranks seventh nationally.
A-10 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: GW has advanced to the A-10 Championship for the first time since 2017 and 13th time overall. The Buff and Blue own a 5-9-3 all-time record in the event, highlighted by titles in 2002 and 2004. (Learn more about the incredible resilience behind the program's most-recent title run in this edition of the GW Athletics Vault.)
GW last faced Dayton in postseason play at the 2000 A-10 Championship. The teams battled to a scoreless deadlock before the Flyers won a penalty shootout, 5-4.
BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER: Limited to just one appearance during the fall of 2019 due to injury, Haynes Brown has returned to his high-scoring ways to pace the Buff and Blue.
Haynes Brown flashed familiar form right away, scoring the overtime golden goal in the Feb. 20 season opener vs. Mount St. Mary's on the Mount Vernon Campus. It was his first goal since scoring twice in a win over Saint Bonaventure on Oct. 10, 2018.
Throughout his career in Buff and Blue, Haynes Brown has been a reliable source of offense, recording 49 points via 22 goals and five assists in 32 career games. He enters play Thursday with seven career game-winning scores.
MAKING THE GRADY: Grady has been fantastic between the pipes this season, twice earning A-10 Defensive Player of the Week honors. The Wyncote, Pa., native has totaled a career-high 30 saves on the season, including six last Wednesday at VCU to equal a personal single-game best.
For his career, Grady has a .767 save percentage (56 saves vs. 17 goals) and seven shutouts in 15 career starts.
TOM TERRIFIC: Cooklin picked a perfect time to have a career game, matching his career total entering the day with his four points vs. Davidson.
Cooklin assisted Haynes Brown in the 26th minute to start the scoring before his corner kick found the head of Sveinsson for another score just before the halftime break. In the 51st minute, Sandro Weber's pass freed Cooklin behind the defense for his first goal of the season and a 3-0 lead.
For the season, Cooklin (one goal, four assists) is now tied with Weber (two goals, two assists) for second on the club with six points.
WORKING OVERTIME: When GW's first four games of the season went into overtime, it was the first time the Buff and Blue had such a run since the 1984 season when they went beyond regulation in five consecutive outings.
GW finished the regular season 1-2-2 in matches that extended into extra time.
SCOUTING THE FIELD: Because of this season's pod system, GW has not faced the other three teams heading to Dayton.
The top-seeded Flyers finished atop the West Pod, going 4-1-1 vs. A-10 opponents. They finished the regular season with three straight victories, outscoring the opposition 12-1 in the process.
Pacing Dayton, Kingsford Adjei and Jonas Fjeldberg both have 14 points via five goals and four assists. A Norway native, Feldberg was picked by FC Cincinnati in the second round of January's MLS SuperDraft.
Saint Louis was runner-up in Dayton's pod and secured an at-large berth into the tournament thanks to a 4-2 A-10 mark, while Fordham was the champion of the North Pod with a 3-0-2 conference record.
