The GW women’s soccer team was left looking for a license plate after George Mason University rolled over the Colonial women Wednesday afternoon at South Riding Field.

The Patriots’ precision offense scored four first-half goals, including two goals in the first five minutes, in cruising to a 5-0 victory.

George Mason exploded out of the blocks when the GW defense could not clear the ball from its own end in the third minute. Patriot freshman Katy Robertson picked up the turnover and slid the ball to Keri Nelson, who netted her shot in the lower left corner to give George Mason a 1-0 lead.

“It definitely took us some time to get warmed up and get going,” GW head coach Michele Rodriguez-Smith said. “We need to maintain possession of the ball more. We are really beating ourselves by giving the ball away so often.”

The Patriots were back on the attack two minutes later. Jennifer Jones tapped a ball to Shannon Jones in the middle of the goal box. GW freshman goalie Shannon Ashfield had challenged the initial pass, and GW’s defense could not recover to prevent the shot as George Mason took a 2-0 lead.

Jennifer Jones then scored on a steal and breakaway in the 19th minute for a three-goal George Mason advantage.

“That’s what a good team will do – they’ll capitalize on the other team’s mistakes,” Rodriguez-Smith said. “If we give the ball away, we need to be ready to fight to get it back.”

After the Patriots scored their fourth goal in the 24th minute, the Colonial women did a good job of containing George Mason’s offense, which managed 31 shots in the game but just one more goal.

“We did some good things out there today,” Rodriguez-Smith said “We attacked in numbers, we beat their defense a few times and we got some good shots off, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”

The Colonial women are off this weekend but return to action Monday when they visit the U.S. Naval Academy.