The James Madison-Northeastern men’s soccer match ended in a 1-1 deadlock Monday afternoon at the JMU Soccer Complex.
With the double-overtime tie between the Colonial Athletic Association opponents, Northeastern lost its chance of gaining the number one seed for the upcoming conference tournament while JMU was eliminated from contention for the four-team tournament.
JMU’s overall record stands at 9-5-3 and its CAA record is 4-4-2. With the tie the Dukes remain in seventh place in the league standings.
Northeastern now has an 8-7-1 overall record and is 7-2-1 in CAA play. The Huskies are tied with William and Mary for second place in the conference. With one game remaining, Northeastern can finish no higher than second.
The scoring in Monday’s match came in a span of less than two minutes.
The Dukes got on the board with 27:22 left in the second period. Junior CJ Sapong (Manassas, Va./Forest Park) sent a ball down the middle of the field. Freshman Marcus Björkheim (Bergen, Norway/Fana Gymnas) sprinted ahead of two defenders to control the ball. He dribbled into the box where he knocked a shot from the edge of the box past Huskies’ senior goalkeeper Scott Partridge (Whitinsville, Mass./Worcester Academy) and into the right corner of the goal.
Just 1:47 later, Northeastern sophomore Mike Kennedy (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield) blasted a high shot from about 28 yards away that was just out of the reach of Dukes’ redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Justin Epperson (Herndon, Va./Oakton).
Early in the second half, Kennedy launched a shot from 25 yards out that was just wide of the goal. That was the Huskies’ closest other scoring opportunity in regulation.
JMU’s best other scoring chance in regulation play came midway through the first half on senior Billy Swetra’s (Egg Harbor City, N.J./Absegami) free kick from 25 yards that Partridge was able to save.
In the 20 minutes of overtime, Northeastern had five shots and JMU took three, but the Huskies had the better opportunities. In the open minutes of the second 10-minute extra period, Northeastern junior Nick Lueders (Needham, Mass./Needham) had the ball in the box but was well-marked by two defenders. He managed to get a shot off but it was wide of the goal.
Midway through the second overtime, Kennedy hit a shot from outside the box on the right side to the left corner, where Epperson made a diving save to preserve the tie.
Northeastern outshot JMU 15-14 for the match. Partridge had two saves and Epperson finished with five saves.
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