Dukes Blank No. 13 Seahawks on Senior Night

Friday, April 9

Harrisonburg, Va.

5 p.m.

James Madison University

5-0-1, 4-0-0

UNCW

5-2-2, 2-1-1

UNCW

James Madison

4/9/2021 8:49:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – The 21^st ranked James Madison men's soccer team (5-0-1, 4-0 Colonial Athletic Association) celebrated its seven seniors on Senior Night by shutting out No. 13 UNCW (5-2-2, 2-1-1 CAA), 2-0, on Friday night at Sentara Park.

With the win, the Dukes clinched the No. 1 seed in the CAA South Division heading into the conference tournament. Juniors Melker Anshelm and Luca Erhardt scored the goals for the Dukes, as redshirt senior TJ Bush had a career-high tying seven saves and picked up his 29^th career shutout in goal.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The game opened up with a offensive stalemate for the first 24 minutes, as neither team could muster much offense. Freshman Ethan Taylor took the lone shot during that time period in the seventh minute, missing high. The Dukes turned the pressure on in the 25^th minute, putting together three consecutive corner kicks in under a minute and a half. JMU then broke the scoreless draw in the 31^st minute, as Clay Obara sent a cross in from wide right of the box that Anshelm headed in to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead.

The stalemate was over after the goal, as the two teams traded shots for the remainder of the first half. UNCW attempted two shots, followed by two from Erhardt, and then another three from UNCW, before the half came to a close. JMU applied pressure to open the second half with three shots across the first five minutes.

The Dukes then extended their lead in the 56^th minute as Erhardt dribbled the ball into the middle of the 18-foot box and fired a shot into the upper left corner to make it a 2-0 game. The Seahawks responded by blitzing the goal, none of their shots would get through. UNCW would continue to fire off shots, including two shots within the final minute of regulation, but Bush held his ground. He collecting six saves throughout the second half to keep the shutout and send JMU home with a 2-0 victory.

GAME NOTES

As a team, JMU had eight saves which is a season-high.
This was the first game this season that JMU was out shot, with UNCW holding a 14-10 edge.
This was the first win against a ranked opponent in the regular season since a 1-0 win against No. 14 Cal State Fullerton on October 2, 2019. The Dukes played two ranked teams in between that win and today.

QUOTING HEAD COACH PAUL ZAZENSKI
"Great result for our program and happy the guys could win the South Division regular season title! Unfortunately, both teams saw red cards, as you hate to see that as we both prepare for postseason play. Overall, we played well for most of the match, but UNCW gave us all we could handle late. Regardless, we are very pleased we could keep another shutout and send the seniors off their home field with a win!"

UP NEXT
The Dukes will be the No. 1 seed out of the South Division and will play the No. 2 seed from the North Division in the CAA Semifinals on Thursday, April 15 in Philadelphia, Pa. The kickoff for that match is to be determined.