Men’s soccer (2-7-2, 0-3-0 Atlantic 10) fell 1-0 to rivals George Mason (5-3-1, 2-0-1 A-10) on the Mount Vernon Campus on Saturday afternoon as their search for their first A-10 conference win continues.

The Revolutionaries managed to keep George Mason quiet during the first half with their defensive posture, only to concede the game winning goal in the 59th minute with George Mason graduate forward Jacobo Sanfeliu acquiring his fifth goal of the season. The loss extends the Revs’ winless streak to six, which includes their three conference defeats. 

Jones said it was marginal mistakes, like a lack of sound decision making, in the defensive third that separated the two sides. Both teams had a similar number of shots, with the Patriots shooting 14 times and hitting five on target, while the Revs shot 11 total and landed four on goal. 

“Tactically, I thought everything was fine to be honest,” Head Coach Craig Jones said after the match. “We thought we created stuff, we competed. But that’s the fine margins.”

Offensive struggles continue to define the Revs’ season, as their top scorer, sophomore forward Louis Crofts, holds three goals to his name while no other players have more than one. Crofts led the team in scoring last season with five goals. While the Revs have proven an ability to break into the final third, they have often failed to finish their attacking chances while there.

“You can’t win games if you are that bad in the final third,” Jones said. 

The Revs initially aimed to slow the game by staying compact defensively but dropped deeper when George Mason had possession to invite pressure.

“I think when we’ve pressed real high up field, the field has become too big for us to cover the ground,” Jones said. “So we didn’t want to give in the space behind us.” 

By defending less aggressively, the Revs ensured they had the numbers at the back line supported by freshman midfielder Omar Alsabagh and senior forward Alex Nicholson who aided the back line in fending off George Mason’s attacks. They were able to keep the Patriots to five shots in the first half. 

While the Revs remained defensively organized, they struggled to produce meaningful chances, often lacking power and precision in their final touches. They’ve scored just four goals in their last nine games — never more than one per match — a shortfall Jones linked to missed opportunities in crucial areas.

“But that’s been our season a little bit, creating half chances,” Jones said.

The Revs began the second half forcing a slower pace of play and continued to defend as a unit, until the 59th minute when junior midfielder Nico Medina committed a foul just inside of 40 yards from the GW goal. Five seconds later, Patriot graduate midfielder Sergio Gonzalez Fernandez took the free kick quickly to play Sanfeliu in between the Revs’ centerbacks, delivering the ball into the bottom left corner, catching the backline off guard and scoring the only goal of the contest.

The Revs were quick to respond — in the 68th minute, Medina played a through ball on the right side to junior forward Jaden Dubon, who sent a low cross into junior forward Pat Altamirano. But Patriot graduate goalkeeper Jaume Salvado made a diving save to his right, denying the Revs their best chance of a goal.

The Revs’ next best opportunities to score came in the 76th minute as Salvado saved a pair of shots from junior forward Louis Saville and freshman forward Joel Russ. 

Junior goalkeeper Tom Macauley, who is also one of the team’s captains, contributed his part in keeping the Revs afloat, only giving up the one goal and saving four shots. He made a big save when he was one-on-one with George Mason junior forward Kelly Janssen in the 88th minute, which prevented the Revs from falling even further behind.

Still, the Revs in the end were unable to find the goal needed for the draw, with their attack falling short as the final whistle blew, marking their third loss in the conference in a season where they’ve won just two games overall. A-10 coaches voted the Revs to finish last in the conference in the pre-season poll, a sign that the expectations for the Revs were in line with their current performance. 

“We haven’t won in conference yet,” Macauley said. “So it hurts. It really hurts.”

Next up, the Revs will play Saint Louis (5-2-4) Wednesday on the Vern. The Rams sit atop the conference standings and are unbeaten in their first three conference games.