Dukes Fall to Kentucky in Sun Belt Quarterfinals

Sunday, November 5

Huntington, W.Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

8-4-5, 4-2-3

Kentucky

7-6-4, 3-3-3

Kentucky

James Madison

11/5/2023 9:46:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – James Madison men's soccer fell, 2-1, in the Sun Belt Conference Quarterfinals to Kentucky on Sunday evening at Hoops Family Field.

The fourth-seeded Dukes had their seven-match unbeaten streak and three-match win streak snapped as they dropped to 8-4-5. The fifth-seeded Wildcats won their fourth consecutive and improved to 7-6-4.

Redshirt senior Rodrigo Robles scored for JMU, leading the attack with a career-high-tying five shots. Sophomore Sebastian Conlon spent the full 90 minutes in goal.

How It Happened

Neither side could mount much offense in the early going, with JMU's Evan Southern having the lone shot in the opening 25 minutes.
JMU had what appeared to be the first goal of the match, but an offside call in the 19^th minute wiped the goal away.
Kentucky found the back of the net first in the 26^th minute, as Joel Gonzalez sent a cross into the 18 and found Isaiah Chisolm. Chisolm put a head on the ball that was headed towards Conlon but was redirected by the thigh of Mason Visconti to find the open net.
The Dukes only needed 46 seconds to equalize though, as redshirt junior Demitri Turner sent a through ball to Robles who then scored his seventh goal of the season.
JMU had a chance to take the lead in the 49^th minute, as a UK handball was called and a yellow card award inside the box. Robles' penalty kick would be saved.
The Wildcats regained their lead in the 54^th minute on a goal from Ben Damge.
Once again the Dukes would score a goal that would be disavowed due to an offside call, this time in the 59^th minute.
In the 64^th minute, UK's Martin Soereide was awarded a red card on a hard takedown of freshman Luca Nikolai. JMU would have a man up advantage for the remaining 26:12.
The final 15 minutes saw the Dukes go on an offensive barrage, outshooting Kentucky 6-0 with the man up advantage. However, none of the shots would find the back of the net.

Quick Facts

Rodrigo Robles' goal gave him 20 points on the season, the first 20-point scorer for the Dukes since Manuel Ferriol set the single-season points record in 2019.

Quoting Head Coach Paul Zazenski
"Despite the loss, I'm proud of the guys' efforts. I think we had a lot of chances on the night and we didn't play poorly. I think UK is a very good side and they're running with a lot of momentum on the season as one of the hottest teams in the country so all credit goes to them. We missed a couple chances maybe we would normally put in, but it just wasn't our night and that's part of the game and you got to move on and hope that the selection committee calls our name. This is a really good group and one that deserves to be in the NCAAs."

Up Next
With an unofficial RPI of 36, the Dukes will await their fate in the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 13.