Dukes Clinch CAA Tourney Berth with 2-1 Win Over Tribe

Wednesday, October 29

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

7-6-4, 3-2-2

William and Mary

6-11-1, 3-4-1

William & Mary

James Madison

10/29/2014 10:26:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Behind two goals from senior midfielder Jonathan Barden (Harrow, England/Park), the James Madison men's soccer team locked up a berth in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament with a 2-1 victory over William & Mary Wednesday night at University Park.

In his final regular-season home game, Barden's two-goal performance is the first of his collegiate career. The senior also nearly doubled his career-goal total with the two scores and now has five goals through his four years with the Dukes.

The first goal came in the 38th minute when redshirt-sophomore forward Connor Coward (Centreville, Va./Centreville) took a shot from the left side of the box but his shot was stopped by Tribe goalkeeper Bennett Jones. Barden collected the rebound in the middle of the box and put his shot home top-shelf to put the Dukes up 1-0 heading into halftime.

The Tribe (6-11-1 overall, 3-4-1 CAA) got the goal back in the 69th minute when Chris Albiston capitalized on a misplay from JMU redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Morton (West Chester, Pa./Reed Henderson). After a contested ball was played toward the top of the penalty area by Josh West, Morton was caught in no-man's land at the top of the box after looking to snag the ball with his hands. With Albiston charging hard, Morton was forced to adjust at the last second and failed to clear the ball. Albiston then collected the loose ball, took one touch in the box and put his shot into an open goal for his seventh tally of the season.

Looking to avoid their eighth overtime game of the season, Barden and the Dukes (7-6-4, 3-2-2) broke the 1-1 tie in the 82nd minute when senior forward Josh Grant (Plymouth, England/Torpoint College) ripped shot from 15 yards out at the top of the box. Jones couldn't corral the hard shot, though, as the ball bounced off his hands and got behind him. Following the shot to the goal line, Barden beat Jones to the bouncing ball and put it home to give JMU the 2-1 win.

With the win, head coach Tom Martin earned a victory in his final regular-season home game as coach of the Dukes. It also gave him his 19th win over William & Mary, moving to 19-11-7 all-time against the Tribe. Martin is the winningest-active coach in Division I men's soccer with 475 victories.

The Dukes outshot William & Mary 10-8 in the contest. Each team put 50 percent of its shots on goal with JMU firing five shots on target to William & Mary's four. Following up his CAA Player of the Week honor, Morton made three saves in the contest to help the Dukes extend their unbeaten streak to three games.

JMU closes the regular season Saturday afternoon, Nov. 1, on the road in Boston against Northeastern. Entering the match, JMU sits fifth in the CAA standings with 11 points. After tying Hofstra on Wednesday, Northeastern is tied with William & Mary for the final spot with the Tribe holding the tiebreaker. Both team have 10 points. Final seeding for the CAA Tournament will be determined this weekend pending results around the conference. JMU is returning to the conference tournament for the first time since 2012, when it lost to Northeastern 5-0 in the semifinals in Philadelphia. The Dukes can finish anywhere from second to sixth in the tournament seeding.

The Dukes have never earned more than a draw against the Huskies in Boston in four tries. The best result JMU has pulled in Boston is a 2-2 draw on Oct. 2, 2010.