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JMU women’s soccer blanks UNC Wilmington, 2-0

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jmu logoThe James Madison women’s soccer team recorded its second shutout in a row with a 2-0 victory Sunday afternoon over UNCW at University Park, moving to 9-6 overall and 4-1 in Colonial Athletic Association play.

The Dukes (9-6, 4-1) got on the board early in the fourth minute when sophomore defender Jennie Sroba(Manakin-Sabot, Va./Collegiate) scored her third goal in two games off a corner kick. A short corner kick was taken by sophomore forward Ashley Herndon (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) and after a few touches, the ball was sent across into the box. After bouncing high in the air in the penalty area, Sroba put a head on the ball and sent it high again over the goalkeeper. As it was coming down, a UNCW defender cleared it but the side referee had ruled the ball was across the line for the goal.

Sroba scored her first two goals of the season Friday night in JMU’s 3-0 win over College of Charleston. All three of her goals have come on crosses from the right side. Senior forward Katie Hyland (Islip, N.Y./Islip) set up by of Sroba’s goals Friday night.

Fighting to put an insurance goal on the board, junior defender Elissa Halik (Spring, Texas/Klein Collins) put the Dukes up 2-0 in the 76th minute when she headed a corner kick from redshirt-senior forward Sam Lofton (Lock Haven, Pa./Central Mountain) in. The goal is Halik’s first of the season and first since scoring in JMU’s 5-0 shutout of Old Dominion on September 20, 2012, when she was a freshman.

Looking to cut the lead in half with six minutes to play, UNCW’s Katrina Guillou was brought down in the penalty area and the Seahawks (7-7-1 overall, 2-4 CAA) were awarded a penalty kick. Morgan Leyble stepped up to take the kick and sent her shot to the right side but JMU redshirt-junior goalkeeper Ellen Forrest (Midlothian, Va./James River) guessed right and got a hand to the ball to knock it wide to keep the clean sheet intact. Overall, Forrest made five saves to record her second complete-game shutout of the year and third overall.

Earlier in the game, Forrest made a diving save on Guillou, the conference’s second-leading scorer with 16 points and seven goals, to keep it a 1-0 lead for JMU. Forrest was tested to the left side but the redshirt-junior got a glove to the bending shot and pushed it just wide of the right post for a corner kick.

The Dukes took 20 shots in the game to UNCW’s 13. Six of those shots were on target while the Seahawks put four on goal. JMU had six corner kicks in the match to UNCW’s four.

The back-to-back shutouts marks the first time JMU has done that since topping Charleston and Northeastern last season 3-0 and 2-0, respectively, on October 20 and 25.

JMU embarks on its final road trip of the regular season Friday night, Oct. 17, in Philadelphia against Drexel. First kick between the Dukes and Dragons is set for 7 p.m. Drexel beat William & Mary in overtime Sunday to remain the only unbeaten team in CAA action at 4-0-1. The Dragons are 7-5-2 overall.

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