Dukes Open CAA Play With 2-0 Win Over W&M

Thursday, September 21

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

6-4-0, 1-0-0CAA

William & Mary

4-6-0, 0-1-0CAA

William & Mary

James Madison

9/21/2017 11:18:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score @JMUWSoccer JMUWS on Instagram Photo Gallery Box Score Complete Highlights

HARRISONBURG, Va. - Freshman Ginger Deel and junior Carmen Thomas each scored second-half goals on Thursday night, leading James Madison to a 2-0 victory over in-state rival William & Mary in both teams' Colonial Athletic Association women's soccer opener at Sentara Park. The Dukes moved to 6-4 (1-0 CAA) with the win, while the Tribe fell to 4-6 (0-1 CAA).

After a quiet first half for both sides, the Dukes dominated the second half, outshooting W&M by an 11-5 margin after the break and racking up all eight of their shots on goal. Deel and Thomas each scored their second goal of the season in the victory, both unassisted. Sophomore goalkeeper Olivia Miller, steady throughout, tallied three saves in her first career solo shutout.

HOW THEY SCORED | COMPLETE HIGHLIGHTS
53' | Deel broke the deadlock just after halftime, when an attempted clearance fell to her just outside the top of the box. The freshman took a handful of touches before lofting a perfect shot into the top-left corner of the net to make it 1-0.
86' | Thomas sealed things in with 4:53 to play, collecting the ball on her own half of the field and dribbling all the way to the top of the box herself before taking a touch to her left and roofing an 18-yard shot into the left side of the net that made it 2-0 in JMU's favor.

MATCH NOTES
- The Dukes again tallied double-digit shots in a match, marking the ninth time in their 10 matches this season, with the 10th being a nine-shot performance against Villanova. Dating back to 2016, the Dukes have posted double-digit shots in 25 of their last 26 matches.
- JMU's eight shots on goal on Thursday were tied for its third-most of the 2017 season, trailing only a 4-0 win over Providence (11) and a 5-0 win at Tulsa (10).
- Thursday's win marked the fifth time in the last seven seasons that the Dukes have won their CAA opener and gave JMU three wins in its last five matches against William & Mary.

PHOTO OF THE MATCH | COMPLETE PHOTO GALLERY

Freshman Ginger Deel scores the match's opening goal, the eventual gamewinner and her second of the season, in the 53rd minute.

QUOTING COACH LOMBARDO
"This was an exciting win for us. We played as complete of a 90-minute match as we've played in some time. Both Ginger and Carmen scored great individual goals that really put a punctuation mark on things and it was a great way to start CAA play."

CAA STANDINGS
Hofstra | 1-0 (3)
James Madison | 1-0 (3)
Elon | 0-0-1 (1)
Northeastern | 0-0-1 (1)
Drexel | 0-0-1 (1)
UNCW | 0-0-1 (1)
College of Charleston | 0-0 (0)
Towson | 0-0 (0)
Delaware | 0-1 (0)
William & Mary | 0-1 (0)

UP NEXT
The Dukes will hit the road to continue their CAA slate on Sunday, Sept. 24, with a 1 p.m. match at Elon, which drew, 1-1, with UNCW at home on Thursday evening. Live video coverage of Sunday's contest will be provided at ElonPhoenix.com.