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JMU women’s soccer season comes to end in CAA semifinals

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jmu logoThe James Madison women’s soccer team had its season come to an end Friday night in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament with a 4-3 loss to Hofstra at Parsons Field.

The Dukes finish 2014 with an overall record of 12-8 and a conference mark of 7-2. Hofstra moves on to the CAA FinalsSunday afternoon, Nov. 9, and will take on the winner of No. 1 Northeastern and No. 4 William & Mary.

In a tightly-contested, back and forth match, JMU and Hofstra took turns putting the ball in the back of the net with Hofstra putting in the game-winner that went in thanks to a long-range shot and near-perfect conditions to convert such an attempt on.

With a steady wind blowing at Emily Agudelo’s back, the defender took a free kick from 45 yards out in the 81st minute and sent the ball high in the air toward goal. With the ball up in the air being aided by the wind, redshirt-junior goalkeeper Ellen Forrest (Midlothian, Va./James River) had to backpedal for the ball and ultimately stumbled over her feet. The ball came down just in front of the crossbar and went in for the game-winner.

Hofstra outshot JMU 17-14 in the match, but both teams mustered nine shots on target. Of those nine shots on goal for JMU, sophomore forward Ashley Herndon (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) put two of them in the back of the net.

The first goal of the game came in the sixth minute when redshirt-freshman midfielder Allison Bortell (Midlothian, Va./James River) took a shot from the top of the box that was deflected by a Hofstra defender. The bounce off her leg went right to Herndon’s feet and the sophomore collected it with just the goalkeeper to beat. Herndon put just enough on her shot to beat Friederike Mehring to the left side to put the Dukes up 1-0.

Trailing 3-2 after Hofstra put in its third goal of the game in the 64th minute, Herndon again capitalized on a chance right out in front of goal. A cross from senior forward Katie Hyland (Islip, N.Y./Islip) was sent into the middle of the box from the left corner and Herndon one-timed her shot off the left post and in to knot the game at 3-3.

The point was Hyland’s third of the match, as the senior tallied JMU’s second goal of the game on a bullet from 30 yards out that beat Mehring, who was stunned by the long-range shot. Hyland ends her career at JMU with 51 points, which is good for 19th in program history. Her career total of 20 goals puts her alone at 19th in JMU history.

Sam Scolarici and Leah Galton, the conference’s two leading scorers, scored each of the first three goals for the Pride. Scolarici scored both first-half goals for Hofstra. Her first goal came just two minutes after Herndon gave the Dukes the lead on a rebound attempt. The initial shot from a Hofstra attacker was deflected into the post by Forrest, but Scolarici put the rebound home to tie the game.

In the 19th minute, Scolarici put the Pride on top 2-1 with her 17th goal of the year after JMU was called for a penalty in the box. Scolarici stepped up and put her attempt home to the left side of goal as Forrest guessed and dove to the right.

Galton, who was named CAA Player of the Year for the second season in a row on Wednesday, Nov. 5, scored the third goal of the game for Hofstra in the 64th minute. She was on the receiving end of a nice lead-up sequence through the middle of the field and ended up splitting two JMU defenders after a flick-on header by Scolarici put her one-on-one with Forrest.

Galton nearly scored on a similar play with 11 minutes to go when the score was 3-3, but Forrest adjusted her tactic of sitting back on the first goal to charging out the second time around, forcing Galton to take a pressured shot from distance at the top of the box.

The seven combined goals are the most in a CAA Women’s Soccer Championship game since 1997. Hofstra’s four goals is the most in a tournament game since 2006.

 

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