A mixture of rain and sleet greeted the George Mason women's lacrosse team in its home opener Sunday. And the Patriots defended its home field on a cold, wet March day – pulling away in the second half for a 17-10 victory over Canisius at George Mason Stadium. Senior Chachi Kelehan scored a season-high five goals and dished out two assists and freshman Deanna Balsama notched a career-high four goals as the Patriots (3-2) won their third straight. Knotted at 7-7 at halftime, Balsama pushed Mason in front for good with a free-position goal less than two minutes into the half. Kelehan followed a couple minutes later with her fourth goal of the game for a 9-7 lead – the largest lead by either team to that point. Canisius (0-5) responded less than a minute later to pull within one. But that's as close as the Golden Griffins would get the rest of the way. Kelehan scored her fifth and final goal to spark a flurry of seven unanswered goals for the Patriots. Junior Hailey Johnson scored three times during the span, including back-to-back goals to cap off the run. She completed the hat trick with 8:54 left to give Mason an insurmountable 16-9 lead. In addition to her three goals, Johnson also had five draw controls, four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore Abby Folker scored two goals, recorded an assist, collected six ground balls, won five draw controls and caused two turnovers. Sophomore Erin Donoghue added two goals and seven draw controls. Junior defender Kelley Reilley also scored a goal – with a minute left – and sophomore Christina Romano also dished out two assists. Junior Melissa Semkiw improved to 3-1 on the season with nine saves. Both teams had trouble holding onto the ball due to the wet conditions with a combined 45 turnovers, including 23 from the Patriots. Mason hits the road again to face a test from the perennial national power Virginia, currently ranked seventh in the country, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Charlottesville