HARRISONBURG, Va. – The James Madison men's soccer team will look to defend their Colonial Athletic Association title for a third consecutive season, as head coach
Paul Zazenski announced the 2021 schedule for this fall on Monday morning.
The Dukes will open up against Marshall, the reigning 2020 national champions, and will play nine of their 17 games at Sentara Park which will culminate in the hosting of the 2021 CAA Tournament.
"Our fall 2021 schedule will certainly be a difficult one, but one that we are very excited about," Zazenski said. "We have a great opportunity to open up and test ourselves against the defending national champions in Marshall. Each season we look to schedule high level non-conference opponents to prepare us for CAA play and I think we have accomplished that. It will be nice to have a full slate of games after a crazy and unpredictable spring. We look forward to seeing what this group is capable of come August."
JMU starts the season playing four of their first five games at home and will get started with the Fairfield Inn by Marriott Invitational on August 26. The Dukes will battle the Thundering Herd on August 26, before taking on UMKC on August 29. The team will then travel to Newark, N.J. where they will face off against NJIT (9/4) before returning home for a match against George Mason (9/7). The Dukes will open up league play on September 11 as they welcome the College of Charleston to Sentara Park for a Saturday night tilt.
The Dukes head on the road to take on NC State on September 14 and then travel to play Delaware on September 18. They will then return to Harrisonburg to welcome in-state rival Virginia on September 21 which will be in advance of three consecutive road games against Elon (9/25), George Washington (9/28), and Mount St. Mary's (10/6).
JMU head into a conference heavy October by returning home to host William & Mary (10/9) ahead of traveling to battle UNCW on October 16. The Dukes then head back to Sentara Park on October 19 to play host to American before traveling to Hofstra on October 23 for a rematch of last season's CAA title game. The Dukes will be home for their final two games of the regular season as they welcome Drexel (10/30) and Northeastern (11/6).
Sentara Park will once again be host to the CAA Tournament, with the semifinals being played on November 11 and the finals on November 14.