Late Goal Downs Dukes in Season Opener

Thursday, August 19

Richmond, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

0-1-0, 0-0-0

VCU

1-0-0, 0-0-0

James Madison

VCU

Photo by: JMU

8/19/2021 9:42:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – The James Madison women's soccer team applied pressure throughout the second half, but a VCU goal with 14 seconds left downed the Dukes, 1-0, in their 2021 season opener on Thursday evening at Sports Backers Stadium.

The Rams (1-0) controlled the flow of the game in the first half against the Dukes (0-1), taking all eight shots in the contest during the first 45 minutes. The Dukes locked down on the backline though, with goalkeeper Alexandra Blom collecting three saves and keeping the ball out of the net against VCU.

The teams would return from the halftime break with a 0-0 score, as the Dukes would turn the pressure on to start off the second half. JMU forced a corner kick 62 seconds into the half, with Ebony Wiseman taking their first shot of the night five seconds later missing high. After a shot by VCU minutes later, VCU would put together a string of four corner kicks.

JMU answered with a corner kick of their own a minute later before kicking back-to-back corner kicks in the 65^th and 66^th minutes. The Dukes then found the back of the net off of the second corner kick, but the goal was called off on a foul on the Dukes and the scored remained at zeros.

Neither team would budge over the next 13 minutes, as the two teams fought for offensive possessions until JMU was able to seemingly find the back of the net once more in the 80^th minute. This goal was once again called off, this time due to an offsides call on JMU.

The Dukes would manage to get two more shots off before VCU was able to find the back of the net on a chip over Blom with 14 seconds remaining to take home the win, 1-0.

Game Notes

Alexandra Blom had seven saves during the game, tying for the second most in her career.
The teams tied with seven corner kicks throughout the match, including five from each team in the second half.

Up Next
The Dukes return to action on Sunday, August 22 for their home opener when they welcome American for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Sentara Park.