Five Goals Send Dukes Past Georgia State to Their Fourth Title Match in Five Seasons

Wednesday, November 9

Huntington, W.Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

8-7-4, 2-3-3

Georgia State

12-4-3, 4-2-2

James Madison

Georgia St.

Five Goals Send Dukes Past Georgia State to Their Fourth Title Match in Five Seasons

11/9/2022 10:55:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – For the fourth time in five seasons, James Madison will be playing for a men's soccer conference championship behind a five-goal performance as it took down Georgia State, 5-0, in the Sun Belt Conference Semifinals on Wednesday night at Hoops Family Field.

The Dukes avenge their regular season loss to GSU, moving to 8-7-4 and have won or drew in eight of their last nine matches. The Panthers drop to 12-4-3.

Redshirt junior Clay Obara recorded his first career brace and led the team with five shots, four of which were put on frame. Freshman Sebastian Conlon made two saves in goal for his sixth shutout of the season and has posted back-to-back shutouts for the second time on the campaign.

How It Happened

The Dukes got on the board in the 33^rdminute when freshman Kevin Larsson fired a shot off that hit off the crossbar and rebounded directly at classmate Cameron Arnold. Arnold gathered the ball and fired the shot into the net past Gunter Rankenburg.
The offense for JMU began to click in the second half that included a trio of goals in a 13-minute period.
Obara scored his first goal of the night in the 50^th minute after redshirt junior Rodrigo Robles intercepted a pass and drove the ball deep into the 18-foot box. Robles fed the ball to classmate Evan Southern who perfectly set up Obara to fire the shot into the goal.
In the 58^th minute, Southern was fouled inside the box to set up a penalty kick for the Dukes. Redshirt senior Tyler Clegg stepped up and netted his fifth goal of the season to give JMU a 3-0 lead.
Southern found his opportunity to score in the 63^rd minute, taking a pass from Robles in the box and chipping the shot over Rankenburg into the upper 90.
The brace for Obara was secured in the 77^th minute, as Robles took a pass from redshirt sophomore Yanis Lelin at midfield and raced a fourth of the way down the field. There he passed it off to Obara who shot into the lower left corner for a 5-0 JMU lead.
Robles recorded three assists in the match, becoming the first Duke to be awarded at least a trio of assists since Kurt Morsink had four against Howard on Sept. 13, 2006.

Game Notes

The five goals are the most scored by JMU since scoring six against Elon on Sept. 14, 2019.
The neutral win is JMU's first since a win against Pittsburgh on Aug. 27, 2017, as the match was played at Ohio State.
The win is Head Coach Paul Zazenski's 50^th at the helm of the JMU program.

Quoting Head Coach Paul Zazenski
"The guys were ready to play tonight and came out and looked sharp on both sides of the ball. Our veteran players showed us the way and have been very at their best during the postseason. We are excited at the opportunity to compete for the Sun Belt Championship and look forward to the challenge ahead."

Up Next
The Dukes head to Lexington, Ky. to take on the top-seeded and second-ranked team in the country, Kentucky, for the Sun Belt Conference Championship on Sunday, Nov. 13. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+. Tickets for the match can be purchased here.