Dukes Cruise Past Towson 4-2 in CAA Opener

Friday, September 26

Towson, Md.

3 p.m.

James Madison University

6-4

Towson

3-5-2

James Madison

Towson

9/26/2014 5:23:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

TOWSON, Md. – The James Madison women's soccer team scored a season-high four goals Friday afternoon in its Colonial Athletic Association opener, a 4-2 victory over Towson at Tiger Soccer Complex.

"The team played hard and showed a lot of character to pull off our first win of the CAA season," head coach Dave Lombardo said. "I'm very proud of the effort we put forth today. Towson is a tough, physical team. We were able to match their intensity and finally found our scoring touch. We look forward to closing out our nonconference slate Sunday afternoon against Richmond."

The Dukes got off to an impressive start in moving to 6-4 on the season (1-0 CAA) as freshman forward Katherine Bukovsky (Centreville, Va./Westfield) scored her first goal of the season in the 29th minute.

Coming out of half with a 1-0 lead, senior forward Katie Hyland (Islip, N.Y./Islip) scored her third goal of the season in the 48th minute. Hyland hit an off-speed shot past Towson goalkeeper Erin Quinn after receiving a ball from junior forward Rachel Ivey (South Riding, Va./Freedom). The goal was her first since scoring the game-winning goal on Aug. 29 against then-No. 24 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Towson cut the JMU lead in half in the 53rd minute when Katie Ponce tallied her third goal of the year, beating JMU redshirt-junior goalkeeper Ellen Forrest (Midlothian, Va./James River) with a shot from the top-right side of the penalty area.

The Dukes got the goal back just two minutes later on Ivey's second goal of the season. Ivey put home a header off a free kick sent in to the left side of goal by redshirt-senior forward Sam Lofton (Lock Haven, Pa./Central Mountain).

Trailing by two goals with less than 20 minutes to play, Towson caught a break when Forrest couldn't handle a shot and Marissa Green put the subsequent rebound home for her first goal of the year to cut the JMU lead to 3-2.

In the 78th minute, freshman forward Caroline Fitzgerald (Arlington, Va./Washington-Lee) gave the Dukes another insurance goal, putting the Dukes ahead by the final 4-2 margin.

Two Dukes tallied multiple points in the contest with Ivey leading the way with three points thanks to her goal in the 55th minute and her assist on Hyland's goal in the 48th minute. Sam Lofton pushed her season total for assists to five after assisting on JMU's final two goals of the afternoon. She is now one assist behind sophomore forward Ashley Herndon (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) for the team-lead.

The Dukes put an astounding 12 of their 14 shots on goal in the contest while Towson took 12 shots, putting four on goal.

JMU closes the nonconference portion of its schedule Sunday afternoon, Sept. 28, against in-state rival Richmond. First kick is set for 4 p.m. between the Dukes and Spiders.