Dukes Blank No. 3 Georgetown to Move to Round of 16

Sunday, November 19

Washington, DC

Noon

James Madison University

10-4-5, 4-2-3

Georgetown

13-3-3, 6-1-1

James Madison

Georgetown

11/19/2023 4:42:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

WASHINGTON, D.C. – James Madison recorded a clean sheet against No. 3 Georgetown in the second round of the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship and used a penalty kick goal to win 1-0 on Sunday afternoon at Shaw Field to advance to the round of 16 for the fifth time in program history.

The Dukes won its sixth match in seven tries and recorded their 30^th 10-win season in program history as they improved to 10-4-5. JMU defeated a seeded side in the national tournament for the third time ever with GU being the fourth seed in the national tournament. The Hoyas season ended at 13-3-3, as it had its 16-match home unbeaten streak snapped for its third loss at home since 2019.

Sophomore Kevin Larsson led the attack for the Dukes with three shots, while redshirt junior Davide Materazzi scored the deciding goal. Sophomore Sebastian Conlon made a pair of saves in goal to record his third shutout of the season.

How It Happened

JMU controlled the run of play for the majority of the first half. It had a 4-1 shot advantage through the opening 20 minutes.
GU had the first chance in the 27^th minute, as Conlon saved a shot from Kieran Sargeant.
The Dukes got on the board in the 39^th minute when freshman Luca Nikolai was tripped in the box and a foul was called. Materazzi stepped up for the shot and converted the penalty kick to give JMU the lead.
A second goal was nearly scored by JMU in the opening moments of the second half. Redshirt senior Clay Obara made a run which brought up Ryan Schewe off his line in addition to three defenders. Obara sent a pass to redshirt junior Evan Southern in the corner of the box who had a good luck, but a Hoya stepped in front of the goal line and cleared the shot.
Georgetown flipped the script on the Dukes after the first five minutes of the second half, controlled the play in their attacking half for the majority of the half.
The Hoyas had a chance in the 68^th minute, but a save from Conlon in the top corner of the net kept them off the board.
Shots in the 82^nd and 88^th minutes to try and equalize were blocked, allowing the Dukes to hold on to the clean sheet.

Quick Facts

The Dukes are now 2-1-1 against sides ranked in the top three in the country. They've taken down No. 1 UCF and drew No. 3 West Virginia, with all three results coming on the road.
JMU advances to the round of 16 for the first time since its quarterfinals run in 2018.
Georgetown was shut out at Shaw Field for the first time since 2018, a span of 60 matches.
The Dukes avenged an earlier loss to Georgetown, falling 2-0 on Sept. 19 at Shaw Field.

Quoting Head Coach Paul Zazenski
"I couldn't be prouder of the guys. The biggest thing is we believed in it and we kept the shutout. Credit to the entire team top to bottom because this is one of the hardest places to play in America. We were able to keep them scoreless and Davide was able to get that PK to see out the game and have us walk away winners. Couldn't be more proud of our efforts and we grinded out a result and it's on to the next."

Up Next
The Dukes will know their opponent later tonight as they'll take on the winner of 13^th-seeded UCLA and Loyola Marymount who play at 8 p.m. The time, date and location of the thir round matchup will be announced at a later time.