Dukes Earn Fourth Shutout of Season in Win Over Liberty

Saturday, September 14

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

2-0-3, 0-0-0

Liberty

2-2-1, 0-0-0

Liberty

James Madison

9/14/2024 10:20:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. — James Madison men's soccer earned its fourth shutout through the opening five matches of the season as it took down Liberty, 2-0, on Saturday night at Sentara Park.

The Dukes moved to 2-0-3 and are unbeaten after five matches in the season for the second consecutive year and third time in the last five seasons. The Flames dropped to 2-2-1.

Redshirt senior Yanis Lelin and sophomore Jeffrey Aguilar paced the offense with four shots and three on goal each. Junior Sebastian Conlon made four saves in 90 minutes of action between the posts for his fourth shutout of the season.

Quoting Head Coach Paul Zazenski
"Tonight's win goes to one of our own who was not at the game tonight due to family circumstances. We are thinking about him and played for him and were fortunate to get the result. The game saw a ton of chances for both sides. At the end of the day, we kept a shutout and walked away a winner. Now we have short rest before a huge game away."

How It Happened

Liberty wasted little time getting shots off, firing a shot in the second minute that was saved by Conlon before firing a shot wide in the fourth minute.
Sophomore Luca Nikolai had a shot in the 32^nd minute go inches over the crossbar as his attempt was a good look from outside of the 18 box.
A JMU corner kick in the 42^nd minute rebounded to freshman Milo Wray who fired a shot that bounced off the cross bar.
After a penalty kick was originally called, a review moved it to a foul outside of the box. Lelin then took the shot from the near side of the box and put it in the far top corner for a 1-0 JMU lead in the 51st minute.
A second penalty kick for the Dukes was called in the 63^rd minute, but much like the first penalty kick, it was overturned after review.
In the 79^th minute, Liberty had a look at the goal from inside the six-yard box but sent the shot high.
The Dukes added a second goal in the 89th minute, as redshirt senior Demitri Turner connected with classmate Evan Southern on a pass up the pitch. Southern then laid it up for Nikolai to net his second goal of the season.

Match Notes

JMU put 10 of its 17 shots on goal, the most shots on goal for the team since putting 13 shots on goal against Georgia Southern on Oct. 27 last season.
All five goals for the Dukes this season have come in the second half.
In their last 10 home matches, the Dukes are 6-1-3.
The last time the Dukes started the season with four shutouts in five matches was the spring 2021 season. The last time JMU had four shutouts in a five-match span at any point in the season was in 2021 from Sept. 18-Oct. 6.

Up Next
JMU will hit the road for a match at Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday, Sept. 17 before returning home to host UCF for the Sun Belt Conference opener on Saturday, Sept. 21.