Dukes Drop 2-1 Heartbreaker to No. 19 Virginia

Tuesday, September 30

Charlottesville, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

4-4-2

Virginia

5-3-1

OT 2

James Madison

Virginia

9/30/2014 10:15:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The James Madison men's soccer team suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in overtime Tuesday night to No. 19 Virginia at Klöckner Stadium.

The Cavaliers needed to come from behind in the match and did just that with goals in the 89th minute and 97th minute to top the Dukes.

JMU got on the board early in the 16th minute on a goal from redshirt-senior forward Jamal Umar (Herndon, Va./Chantilly). Umar dribbled to the end line in the left corner, then pulled back and moved to the top left side of the box and fired a shot on a rope past Virginia goalkeeper Calle Brown. The goal was his second of the year. Umar scored his first career goal last Tuesday, Sept. 23, in a 4-3 victory against West Virginia.

Fighting throughout the second half to find the equalizer, the Cavaliers made numerous empty trips into the JMU penalty area before getting a goal from Darius Madison in the 89th minute. The goal came after Patrick Foss crossed a pass into the middle of the box from the left side, but the ball bounced off the hands of redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Kyle Morton (West Chester, Pa./Reed Henderson). Madison collected the rebound and put his shot in the right corner to tie the game.

Playing evenly throughout the overtime period, Virginia got a break when it won a corner kick in the 106th minute. The kick sailed well past the goal mouth but the cross back to the middle by Virginia captain Eric Bird found Madison and the forward headed it home for the game-winner.

JMU won the shot battle in regulation, but with the Cavaliers taking three shots in overtime while JMU not registering one in the extra session, Virginia finished with a slight 12-11 advantage.

The Dukes came out of the gates strong against the Cavaliers and nearly scored in the opening minutes. Senior forward Josh Grant (Plymouth, England/Torpoint College) had a header near the right post in the first few minutes of the game, but his attempt went wide right. Just two minutes later, Grant fired a bending shot from the top of the penalty area that beat Brown but clanged off the left post and stayed out.

The loss moves JMU to 4-4-2 on the season. The Cavaliers improved to 5-3-1 with the win and avoided losing a third straight game for the first time since the 2004 season.

Each of the last four contests between JMU and Virginia have gone to overtime. The Dukes have not beat the Cavaliers since October 4, 1980.

The match marked the last nonconference affair of the season for the Dukes as JMU will end a three-game road trip next Wednesday, Oct. 8, against Delaware. The Blue Hens are currently ranked No. 25 in the NSCAA Coaches Poll. Should they stay in the national polls, it will be the third straight game the Dukes play against a ranked team. JMU is 0-1-2 against ranked teams this year having previously battled then-No. 16 Penn State (Sept. 8) and then-No. 22 Furman (Sept. 26) to draws.