Good morning Patriots. Do you know the best time to book a dentist appointment? Tooth-Hurty!! (bada bing!)

Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves on National Old Joke Day and it being Monday! Had to get things started with a laugh (or most likely a head shake and a face palm).

Anyway, we’ll be highlighting a tremendous look at the impact of Mason Athletics can have on student-athletes, a great showing against the world’s best and much more!

What all is stirring in today’s Brew? You don’t want to miss!

🌠 The Patriot Experience
⚽️ The Grandest Stage
🚣‍♂️ Making Waves
​⭐ And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Irish Impact. No matter how many advertisements or great commercials we may see, we all know that recommendations from friends or others are the best way to peak our interest.

Grace Furlong was a two-year standout for the women’s track & field squad, earning silver medal status at the A10 Indoor and Outdoor Championship meets this past year. Her silver medal in the triple jump was a part of Mason’s 2023 Women’s Track & Field Atlantic 10 Championship victory.

This past week, Furlong reflected back to her journey to the US from Ireland and what it’s been like.

‘Every aspect of life in the US has been beyond anything I could have hoped for’

🔼 Making Waves. The Patriots rowing didn’t doesn’t just make waves on the water, they’re making waves in the classroom too.

No, not literally, but their success academically absolutely shines brightly.

Five members of the squad have been named CRCA Scholar Athletes for 2022-23.

Senior Olivia Zablocky earned the honor for the second-straight season, while Maddy Baldwin, Daylin Canton, Haviland Cobb and Kaitlyn Kutz are recipients for the first time in their Mason careers.

🔼 Battling the Best. Nothing like opening up the first-ever World Cup showing in country history with the best, right?

That’s exactly what senior Milan Pierre-Jermone and her Haitian teammates took on over the weekend, making their World Cup debut against one of the tournaments favorites, England on Saturday.

The Haitian squad came up just short, but battled the perennial world powers to a 1-0 showing and earned some respect.

Next up for Pierre-Jerome and Haiti is China (Fri., July 28th at 7 a.m.) and Denmark (Tues., Aug. 1st at 7 a.m.).

Mason assistant coach Alyssa Whitehead is on the sideline for her home country Jamaica, representing the Patriots as well.

Whitehead and Jamaica dropped a tough _____ decision to France on Sunday and have remaining showings against Panama (Sat., July 29th at 8:30 a.m.) and Brazil (Wed., Aug. 2nd at 6 a.m.).

This is the first time George Mason will have both a player and a coach participating in a World Cup. It will also be the second time a Patriot soccer player will be playing in FIFA's largest stage. The first player to do so was Kim Maslin-Kammerdeiner in 1991, who was the reserve goalkeeper for the U. S. Women's National Team at the first FIFA Women's World Cup, which was held in China.

Games can be viewed on Fox Sports or Telemundo.

🔼 Earning His Stripes. While he hasn’t put on the Green and Gold yet, he’s already made plans to wear the Red, White and Blue.

Incoming men's volleyball freshman Jackson Herbert was named to the U19 Beach National Team Roster, announced by USA Volleyball recently.
 
Herbert, a Virginia native, will join athletes from the U19, U21 and U23 rosters at the National Team Development Program (NTDP) summer training block from July 23 to Aug. 2 at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in California.

The Briar Woods High School graduate will join Hawaii men's volleyball signee Kai Rodriguez and represent the United States at the First Caribbean Beach Volleyball Invitational Tournament on Aug. 4-6, 2023.

🔼 Hoops Over Hockey, Eh? Our friends from up north are even friendlier with us Patriots now after the latest addition to Mason’s men’s basketball program.

A 6-foot-3-inch guard from Brampton, Ontario, Baraka Okojie reclassified to the Class of 2023 and will join the Patriots as a true freshman in 2023-24. 

A First Team SIAA All-State selection in 2023, Okojie impressed for Daytona Beach DME Academy this past season where he lead his team to the top seed in the Florida state tournament and a top-10 ranking on MaxPreps. He served as team captain while averaging 14 points, five assists and five rebounds per game.

Okojie has represented his home country on the biggest stages as a member of the Canadian U-16 and U-17 National Teams. He is an alternate for the U-19 team. 

🌠 THE LEWIS ERA

The Dawn Of A New Era. July 1st officially started a new era of George Mason Athletics.

That was the day that Marvin Lewis, a former star collegiate student-athlete himself, officially took over the reins as the Athletic Director.

Energy, excitement and hard work are just some of what Marvin brings to the table. We can’t wait to see what the future has in store!

⭐️ PATRIOT COUNTDOWN: 24 DAYS

We are counting down the days to start of the 2023-2024 athletic calendar with some of the best moments, stars, and much more from Mason history.

Home Sweet Home. On Friday, we highlighted one of our Mason standouts, Keegynn Applegate, that hails all the way from Anchorage, Alaska.

We thought we’d throw the exact opposite at you on Monday to show how far our Patriot family can range.

Highlighting #24 with only 24 days left until the Patriots athletic calendar fully returns, we look at Katelyn Clarke of our women’s volleyball team, a senior from right here in Fairfax Station.

Clarke, a rising senior, is an outside hitter has played in 61 matches, recording 356 kills and 47 service aces.

Prior to coming to Mason, she was a four-year varsity standout at South County, earning Regional MVP honors and AVCA All-American status during her senior season.

🤔 PATRIOT TRIVIA

Nothing Like Home Cooking. Above, we featured Katelyn Clarke to help us countdown the return of Patriot Athletics and the start of the 2023-24 season.

Clarke hails from Fairfax Station and is one of our student-athletes that can get plenty of home-cooked meals.

Do you know how many of our Patriots in 2023-24 hail from Fairfax/Fairfax Station?

Got a guess?

Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Patriot Brew? Well, the first thing you should do is thank them. The next thing you should do is subscribe here and get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 14!

That’s right, Clarke is one of 14 (five male, nine female) different athletes from the Fairfax/Fairfax Station area. That crew hails from seven different high schools.

Let’s start the week strong Patriots!